The Cullen Manor
by Bumblebee27
Summary: Bella is hired as the maid at the Cullen Estate. What will happen when she is in close quarters to the Cullens' handsome and willful son Edward?
1. Chapter 1

**_This fic is set during the regency period in Britain. I've done a bit of research but if any historical inaccuracies stick out to anyone, I'd love to hear about them. With that being said, please don't let it distract from your enjoyment of the story. Also, I love to hear each and every review and piece of feedback- they make me do a little happy dance each time I get one! So thanks and please enjoy!_**

The beautiful countryside of Forks rushed by before Bella's eyes. Bella could hear Jessica droning on about the various duties that would be expected of her in her new post as maid to the Cullens, but it was all Bella could do to sit still and not squirm in excitement. Just yesterday she had been an ordinary maid in the house of the Wellingtons, and extremely prominent merchant family. But today she would begin a new life, a life serving in the house of a nobleman- a duke, no less!

Already this change had afforded her the opportunity to ride in a carriage for the first time, and Bella was amazed with the speed with which it enabled them to travel. It wasn't all that far from the Cullen estate to town, but apparently the Cullens the feeling that working for the Cullens involved doing everything at a much higher caliber.

Yesterday, Jessica had shown up to the Wellington household as Bella had polished silver in the back, and explained to Mrs. Wellington the Cullens' predicament. Apparently a maid had run off with a stable boy, leaving the Cullens short-staffed. As head maid, Jessica had been sent to find a suitable replacement.

Immediately upon hearing this, Mrs. Wellington had volunteered Bella for the task. The Wellingtons were close to the Cullens, and Bella was sure that Mrs. Wellington was keen to win favor with the powerful Duke Cullen. It probably also didn't help that Bella was clumsy, and occasionally absentminded. But Bella knew that the two Wellington daughters were extremely interested in the Duke's son and only heir, whose handsomeness was apparently equal to his riches.

Bella now found herself regretting not paying attention to the silly Wellington sisters when they went on and on about parties at the Cullen estate, because she realized it might be extremely useful now.

"Bella!" Jessica looked sharply at her. "Are you even listening?"

Bella nodded. She had not, in fact, been listening, but she knew that to admit such would be to find herself booted from the carriage and beginning a shameful walk back to the Wellington residence in town.

"Good, because serving a Duke is nothing like serving a _merchant._" Jessica practically spit out the word "merchant", as though it tasted badly on her tongue. "There is extremely formal procedure that must be followed."

Bella nodded and listened to Jessica go over the various rules and regulations, although she had been listening for the entire ride and it seemed to Bella as if Jessica was just going over the same material.

Suddenly the carriage broke through the woods and entered the sunlight. In this distance, Bella could see a beautiful, tan colored mansion built of stone. In front of it was a man made pond, swans swimming serenely on top of the water. Lush gardens surrounded the mansion, formally planted and plotted as was the style. It was truly a breathtaking view. Bella could scarcely believe she would be working at such a grand estate.

As the carriage pulled up, Bella had to make sure she didn't dawdle, as her inclination was to just gape at the beautiful ornateness of the stones, the charming way the ivy crawled up the walls around the servant's entrance. As she stepped out of the carriage, she thought that it reminded her of a castle.

"Bella!" Jessica screamed, standing inside the servant's entrance. "Hurry yourself up. We haven't got all day!"

A drop of sweat fell from Bella's brow to the floor as she scrubbed the brush into the wood. Bella had scrubbed all of the first and second floors today. The only floor she didn't have to scrub would be the third floor, which was reserved for storage and servants' quarters and could be cleaned with a wet rag.

Jessica had been right in explaining that working for the Cullens would be more grueling than her work for the Wellingtons. It was hard work maintaining such a beautiful and large mansion. Additionally, Bella felt that Jessica had been assigning her the most difficult of the maids' tasks. Scrubbing the floors, doing the laundry, emptying the baths. All of these were backbreaking tasks that usually would be given to multiple maids but Jessica had assigned them to Bella alone.

Nonetheless, Bella was excited to be working for such a prominent and noble family. She had not had a glimpse of any of them yet, as Jessica tried to plan chores for when family members would not be using that part of the house.

However, tonight that would change, as Bella would be serving in the family dinner. Even when it was just immediate family, the Cullens always took dinner in the formal style, with servants wearing their formal outfits and lining up against the wall while the Cullens ate. They would dart to the sides of the Cullens whenever a glass was empty or a napkin was dropped, and then step forward in sync to retrieve the plates at the end of each meal.

Jessica had explained to Bella that the dinner was to go off without a hitch, and any mistake on her part meant that she would be gone before dessert. Bella desperately didn't want that to happen. She felt that it was somewhat of an honor to be working here. She had spent most of her life in the Wellington household. Her father had been a travelling builder before his wife had died. Bella was only five when Renee passed, and when that had happened Charlie had found he could no longer manage the nomadic lifestyle with no one to look after Bella. As such he had applied for a position in the stables at the Wellington household, and Bella was trained as a scullery maid.

As she grew she was able to rise to a house maid, and hoped over time to work her way to a position as ladies' maid or housekeeper. Occupying that position in the house of a duke would certainly be an honor, and it would make her father proud. Although she wasn't all that close to Charlie and didn't get to see him that often as they worked in separate stations, she loved him very much and wanted to make him proud of her. Tonight would be her opportunity to show that she was an excellent fit in the Cullen's staff, and that she was well equipped to rise even higher. And she was determined to cease it.

Bella clutched her plate nervously. Each of the servants was lined up at the stairs, preparing to exit the downstairs kitchen area and make their way to the dining room. Bella looked down at the mass of endive and lettuce, sprinkled with various vegetables, in front of her. Her palms were so sweaty that she was afraid the plate would slip from her fingers.

"Relax," Bella heard from behind her. "You'll be fine."

Bella turned and gave Mike, the manservant in line behind her, a smile. "Fingers crossed."

The front of the line began to move and there was no more time to contemplate the rules dinner. Bella was going to have to trust that she would remember the multitudinous regulations of a Cullen dinner service.

As they entered the dining room, each servant lined up against the wall. They all paused, salad plates in hand. Jessica rang a small bell, and each servant stepped forward at the same time and deposited the plate to the table from the right of the appointed family member. Bella had been assigned to serve Rosalie, who she had heard could be quite exacting. She placed the food gently down without spilling, then managed to gracefully take three steps back until her back pressed against the wall.

Breathing out a big sigh, Bella realized the first course had been a success. Despite her sweaty hands, she had managed not to drop anything. Bella now attempted to stare at the wall in front of her, as was the proper protocol. Bella was not supposed to call attention to herself in any way, yet the servants were expected to stay in the room in case anyone dropped a napkin or needed anything.

Bella's attempts to keep a straight face and fade into the wallpaper were thwarted by Mike's presence directly across from her. He caught her eye and nodded with a slight smile, as if to wish her a job well done. Bella glanced briefly around and seeing the other servants not looking, gave Mike a small smile back. The servants were not supposed to distract or draw attention to themselves in any way, but Bella felt it would have been rude to ignore Mike outright. Mike had been so friendly and kind to her since she had begun work, and she valued his friendship. The presence of Mike and of Angela, her roommate, had made the time here so much more valuable. Both of them would tell her not to mind Jessica's harshness, and would tell her entertaining anecdotes about each member of the Cullen family.

Bella quickly looked around to see no one else had seen their little exchange. At that moment she realized someone much worse had observed her smile towards Mike. She had to guess that this was Edward, this brown haired young man sitting across the table. And he was staring right at her.

Bella darted her eyes away and stared at the opposite wall for as long as she could manage. After about two minutes, she was sure that he could not be paying any more attention to her. Stealing a quick glance to make sure, she looked over and saw him raise a forkful of lettuce to his mouth, all the while staring intently at her. Bella found this extremely unnerving.

_Shit shit shit. _Immediately Bella began mentally panicking. Clearly Edward had seen the exchange between her and Mike and did not approve of it. Bella knew that procedure and proper behavior were of the utmost importance in the Cullen household, and she had heard that Edward was extremely exacting and demanding, but she couldn't help but feel that this was a small infraction, unworthy of such extreme attention. Certainly it couldn't be a fireable offense?

In Bella's mind she heard Jessica's voice. _Mess up at all and you'll be out before dessert._ Bella gulped. As hard as it might seem, this could be the reason why she was dismissed.

There was nothing for it to be done but to be on her very best behavior. Bella endeavored to look only at the wall the entire time, and completely avoided Mike's smiles despite his attempts to catch her eye.

At times Bella would try to convince herself that Edward had forgotten about it, and would steal a quick glance to check. Every time he would be either already staring, or his eyes would immediately dart up towards her as though he was aware of her focus. Bella found herself slightly scared by the imminent intentionality behind his green eyes, both of which seemed to sear into hers.

He almost looked angry, so intense was his gaze. Bella was sure that he was going to have her fired immediately after the meal, and was honestly baffled as to why he had not done so already. By the dessert course she had resolved not to catch his eye again, and could only hope that all would be forgotten by tomorrow.

Finally, after dessert and coffee, each of the guests pushed back their chairs and began to leave. As Edward stood up to leave, Bella stole one more quick glance. She saw him look up immediately, straight into her eyes, before turning and leaving.

Once the family was gone, Bella felt as though she could finally breathe. Who knew that Edward would not have her fired before morning? Bella felt it was almost as though he was trying to send a message to her, and the only one she could guess was that he was aware of her slight mistake and would make her pay. But then again, the whole thing was so odd. The only thing Bella could be sure of at this point was that if she stayed on at the Duke's house, she was going to have to keep a sharp eye on Edward Cullen.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the dinner passed without incident, but she had felt Edward's eyes on her throughout. She tried to avoid eye contact despite seeing his gaze through her peripheral vision, but she could see that he was managing to eat his meal and participate in the conversation. However, every time she looked directly at him, he would either be already staring at her or would raise his eyes to meet hers. It was all extremely unnerving and didn't do much to make her feel more comfortable through that dinner.

As they cleaned up afterwards, Mike came to her and asked her if something had been bothering her during dinner. Bella guessed her discomfort must have been obvious by the way she had just stared at the wall for the duration of the meal.

"Everything's fine, Mike," Bella gave him a weak smile. "Thanks for asking."

"You looked…. Nervous or something."

"I think I was just nervous about it being my first dinner." Bella didn't want to mention the real reason for her nervousness- the odd look in Edward's eyes.

Mike put a hand on her shoulder. "No need to worry, Bella, you did great for your first time."

"Thanks Mike." Bella looked down at his hand and back to his face. "Well, I suppose we're pretty much done here. Think I'm going to go to bed."

Mike seemed somewhat wounded and moved his hand away. "Ok. Next time though!"

Bella nodded and moved towards the stairs. All she could think of was her small bed, which she shared on the fourth floor attic of the estate, with Angela, the cook. The whole night had been exhausting, and Bella was not at all sure that she would sleep through the night without being awoken by an enraged Jessica kicking her out for failing at her first dinner service. From the intensity in Mr. Cullen's eyes, she could only surmise that he had definitely noticed her exchange with Mike, and Bella was afraid that he intended to do something about it.

The next day came and went without incident. Jessica constricted Bella to work in the kitchen the whole day, helping Angela doing the preserves as well as polishing silverware. Bella enjoyed this ability to work with her roommate, as they already got along well. Throughout the day Mike would sneak in to grab an apple and then stay for a chat, overstaying his welcome at times until Angela shooed him back to work. Bella was just glad to be assured of not seeing Edward again, and especially relieved when Jessica told her that she would not have to serve dinner that night. To be honest, when she woke up that morning she'd just been glad to see the dawn sun coming in the window and realize that she had not been awoken overnight and told to pack her things. Working all day behind the scenes just added to her sense of relief. Dinner that night for her was a much easier affair- she remained down in the kitchen and helped prepare and plate the food. Afterward she helped clean up, and then joined some of the servants for a game of cards. Mike sat next to her and gave her tips and the rundown on each of the players' techniques, so she felt much better equipped to play.

By the time Bella awoke the day after, she felt as though she could breathe easy. Clearly were Edward intending to do anything, he would have acted by now. But Bella knew she must try her best to be vigilant about proper decorum at all times, particularly in front of Edward. She got the feeling that he was the watchful type. Bella went through her morning chores, helping prepare breakfast and lunch, sweeping all the rooms, scrubbing the floors. Jessica had orchestrated everything so that there was a precisely timed schedule to when the Cullen family members would be least likely to be in the rooms. Therefore, scrubbing the floors corresponded to morning activities and ran into lunch, with Bella starting earlier in bedrooms where the inhabitants had an earlier activity planned or usually could be expected to be out of their rooms. In this way, she managed to avoid seeing any Cullen family members, which she was grateful for. Servants were to be "seen and not heard, and optimally, not seen at all" Jessica would constantly remind Bella. And Bella had to say she agreed. The money and status that each member of the Cullen family had intimated her greatly, and she was in no hurry to have to deal with them face to face anytime soon.

After lunch Jessica informed Bella that she would need to dust again, a chore that apparently needed repeating every couple of days. Bella carefully went through the delicate silver fish that adorned the dining room table, and all other surfaces in the dining room, hall, music room, and drawing room. Next was the heaviest task of them all, the library. The sheer number of old books and beautiful figurines seemed to draw and give off dust like a magnet. Bella took her duster and dampened cloth and settled in for the task. A couple of minutes later, she heard the sound of loud footsteps, almost as though someone were wearing heavy boots. Something about the sounds made Bella feel on full alert, almost as though the noises were coming for her. She couldn't imagine who it could be- most of the Cullens had gone into town for some shopping, and she knew Edward was supposedly working on some of the landscaping and surveying the property. The footsteps moved into the dining room, stopped briefly and then stomped into the music room. Next was the drawing room. Bella heard the footsteps pause before continuing down the hall. She knew what was coming next, and she dreaded it for some reason. This room would be the next destination and she mentally cursed herself for having done the rooms in this order. If only she had done this first she would be in some other room by now. She reminded herself that she would have had no way of knowing that a Cullen was coming back to use the library, they were all supposed to be gone. Bella felt that her palms were now clammy and she forced her eyes back down to the figurine she was wiping in order to make sure not to break it. The footsteps stopped outside the door, and paused for a couple of seconds. Bella felt a brief moment of hope that maybe the intruder would continue walking as he had done with all the other rooms. But apparently he had found what he was looking for, whatever it was, as Bella heard the boots stride in and cross to the bookshelf behind her. Bella focused hard on the little nooks and crannies of the porcelain gosling she was cleaning, not daring to look behind her or cause attention to herself. But when he strode from the bookshelf and over to a sitting chair, she chanced a look and realized with horror that it was in fact Edward who was disturbing her peace.

Bella went over her options in her head. _I could stay here and keep cleaning, or I could make my apologies and leave. After all, Jessica said servants were best if not seen. _She didn't know what it was, but something about being around Edward made Bella feel uncomfortably alert and aware of herself, and of him. And she didn't like it.

Her mind made up, Bella placed the porcelain figurine back on the table. "Excuse me, sir- I didn't know… I'll just finish this up later and leave you in peace."

Bella began striding to the door, and her movements were so quick that she was almost there before she heard his voice.

"Stay."

Bella turned to look at Edward. He hadn't even lifted his head from the book, just issued the command so confidently that Bella had no choice but to obey.

She turned on her heel to walk confidently back to the table. Bella resolved that she would just go about her business and not let this bother her. Bella guessed it was his stern judgment at the dinner the other day that had her feeling so tense around him. Regardless, she wasn't about to allow anyone to ruin her job performance and get her fired. So she turned away from him and resumed the cleaning of the figurines, picking each up and brushing the dirt away with her damp handkerchief. As she put down the last piece, she looked up and saw Edward staring at her again. She quickly averted her eyes again, moving to another table to begin on that. How she wished she had gotten far enough through this room to have the option of just leaving or rushing through. She didn't even know why Edward was here. From what Jessica had said in her lovesick way, Edward should be out riding around the property now, checking on various tenants on some of their lands and overseeing the landscaping and groundswork. She made it seem as though that was all he ever did, so from that description Bella would have thought an afternoon spent reading in an armchair, while the cloudless sky beckoned outside, would be highly unusual.

Edward cleared his throat. "You're new here?"

It took Bella a couple of seconds to realize he was addressing her, but her hyperawareness of him and the fact that there was no one else in the room helped with that.

Bella looked up at him hesitantly. "Yes, sir." She focused back on her work, concentrating on making herself appear as inconsequential and unobtrusive as possible.

A couple of minutes passed in silence.

"Where did you work before this?"

Bella could not imagine this gruff and imperious man being at all concerned with where most of his servants had worked before, but it was not like she could refuse to answer or question him in any way.

"The Wellingtons, sir."

"The merchant's family?"

Bella nodded. Seemingly with his curiosity satisfied, silence passed for the next few minutes. Bella found herself able to relax, with Edward reading his book on the other side of the room. She focused on getting each nook and cranny of the porcelain figurines, and making sure all the tables were wiped clean, and in this way several minutes passed.

Soon Bella finished that area and realized she had been totally engrossed in her thoughts and cleaning, and glanced up towards Edward. She saw he was staring at her, with the same fearsome expression as the other night. Startled, she held his gaze, openmouthed, for a couple of seconds before becoming aware of herself and looking back down.

She heard the ruffle of movement and heard Edward rise from his chair and throw the book on the chair. She heard his footfalls as he strode out of the room. Relieved, Bella felt as though she could breathe for the first time since Mr. Cullen had entered the room. She heard the sound of Edward taking some kind of stairs, it almost sounded like the basement stairs- but of course that let down to the kitchen and servants area, so of course that could not have been it. He must have been going upstairs and Bella heard wrong. Bella finished cleaning the room but mercifully Edward did not return. Once she finished, she turned to leave before remembering the book. She strode over to the chair, and picked up the book to return it to the shelf. Bella found herself unable to resist looking inside, to see what Edward was reading. Opening what appeared to be a historical text, Bella couldn't help but notice that the cloth bookmarker inside was only at page one.

Bella headed down to the kitchen to begin getting ready for the dinner service. Jessica had told her that Angela would be needing her help again, so she wouldn't be serving the family. Although Jessica had delivered this like a punishment, Bella considered it a complete relief, despite the fact that it meant some additional physical labor for her.

Heading into the kitchen, Jessica stopped her in her tracks, the most curious expression on her face. "Bella," she sniffed. "There's been a change in plans- you will be serving at the table tonight. It certainly wasn't MY decision-" with this Jessica looked her up and down disapprovingly. "But it wasn't up to me. Go wash your hands and see what you can help Angela with."

Bella was shocked, but knew not to question Jessica. She couldn't help but ponder how bizarre Jessica's words were: If it wasn't her decision, than whose could it have been?


	3. Chapter 3

_********__Wow- I just realized that I posted the wrong chapter… Those were just story ideas. Anyway, thanks to all who gave me feedback and hope that yall enjoy this_!

Bella's hands shook as she carried the plates into the dining room. They each had been assigned to a place, and hers was to Alice Cullen. Bella was relieved to see that she would not have to serve Edward, but upon entering the dining room, realized that she would have to stand across from him for the duration of the meal. She could barely keep her thinking clear and remember the proper procedures. She felt Edward's gaze on her so intensely that it was like she could feel it with her whole body. She didn't want to meet his eyes, so studiously avoided his gaze for the entire meal, as well as Mike's. Mike kept trying to catch her eye and it was honestly annoying- she didn't want to get into any more trouble with the Cullens then she already was. The only logical explanation for Edward's intense focus on her must have been the little incident with Mike, which, although small, went against the proper decorum for the Cullen family servants. From how Jessica had described his temperament to her, he mainly kept to himself and could be quite imperious and commanding, with no real tolerance for people who he disliked. Bella guessed that interlude must have displeased him in some way, as he continuously stared at her, which unnerved her to the point of contemplating bolting from this room.

Jessica had explained to her the peculiarities of each Cullen family member, which she must be attentive to in order to best serve each of them. Alice was sweet and kind, and was engaged to be married to Lord Jasper. Rosalie was very particular about how she liked things and could be unpleasant if she was displeased. She was engaged to Sir Emmett, a handsome knight. Edward was due to inherit his title of Duke upon the death of his father, Carlisle. His mother, Esme, had passed away 2 years prior. Carlisle and Esme were both described as being kind and gentle, which was a stark contrast from how Jessica described Edward and how Bella perceived him herself. Jessica had said that Edward could be quite demanding, and would never hesitate to criticize or demand exactly what he wanted. If he didn't like something, he made it known quickly. She said he insisted on not being bothered by the servants, and liked to be able to spend his days riding around the property, expecting the tenants' progress and the condition of the familial lands. He also enjoyed sitting in the music room and playing the piano, or sitting in the library and reading. He abhorred being disturbed by the servants for anything not of the most serious importance, and would make it well known when he was displeased with someone. Jessica found him dismissive, and went on a bit about "no woman ever being good enough for 'Mister Future Duke'". Apparently most of the town's eligible young ladies were interested in him, but he never showed any interest back. Apparently, Esme had tried to find Edward a prospective wife since he had turned 16, but now he was nearly 25 and still single, apparently finding fault with each of them. From the way Jessica described Edward, Bella sensed there was some hurt or resentment there, perhaps with specific regard to his romantic situation- although Bella could not imagine why as of course no servant could ever imagine themselves in a romantic context with a Duke. Jessica had made Edward seem mercurial and disinterested, and like a true loner, so Bella was beyond baffled as to why he had allowed her to stay to clean the library yesterday. Wrapped up in these questions, Bella was able to make it through dinner, and just barely caught herself before she served Alice her food on her right side. Having made it through dinner, Bella found herself relieved when the family took coffee and then left to sit together in the drawing room, giving the servants the chance to clean up.

Jessica ordered Bella to stay behind to clean the dining room, which involved gathering up the linens, plates, and wiping every surface down. Bella groaned- this was definitely some kind of punishment, as it was much more labor intensive than the dishwashing and chatter that would be taking place downstairs, as all the other servants would be working together. Bella had just begun stacking the coffee plates when Mike came in to the room.

"Hey you! Need some help?"

Bella breathed a sigh of relief. "Sure, thank you Mike! That would be great!"

Mike and she began working together, with him hauling the plates and silverware downstairs and Bella working on removing the linens.

As they both began the cleaning process, Mike stopped what he was doing and looked over at her. "Bella- is something on your mind? You seemed not yourself at dinner, and you've seemed a little preoccupied for the past couple of days."

Bella looked over at Mike, and dropped put down her cleaning rag. It was nice to have someone to talk to about all this. "It's really nothing. I just- I just am so worried about messing up. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong."

Mike laughed and took a step towards Bella. "If it makes you feel better, that's exactly how I felt the first week."

"Really?"

"Really, Bella. Trust me, you're doing great."

"But honestly, I think I might have done something wrong." Bella felt comfortable confiding in Mike. "I'm sure that Edward dislikes me."

"Oh Bella, Edward is that way with everyone. He's always frowning and in a bad mood."

Bella smiled and tried to look reassured. No matter what Mike said, she was sure his reaction to her was not normal. "Alright, maybe it's all in my head."

"It is, Bella. By the way, I wanted to ask you if you would want to join me and-"

"WHAT IS THIS?" Midsentence, Mike was interrupted by the fearsome sight of Edward hovering next to the door.

Bella felt her heart drop. Maybe in some way, this could look like Mike and she were having an intimate moment. But really, Bella thought, with their body language what it was, that would be difficult. Yes, they were standing a foot and a half towards each other, and Mike's whole body was definitely oriented and leaning towards her. But Bella was actually angled towards the table. She had picked up her cloth again and was certainly not positioned in a way that would suggest any kind of romantic relationship. Nonetheless, from the look of outrage on Edward's face, it seemed that that was what he thought was going on.

"Lord Cullen," Mike quickly stepped back from Bella and bowed to Edward.

Bella just stared at the situation, watching Mike bow low and Edward's eyes linger on him in a glare of anger. Suddenly he focused his steely look on Bella, and she froze for a moment before remembering herself. Sweeping low into a deep curtsy, she repeated the same greeting.

"Lord Cullen, I was just assisting Bella with her cleaning. I thought she would need some help-"

"I'll bet you did." Edward tore his angry gaze from Bella and focused it on Mike. "How dare you use nightly cleaning as an opportunity to try to chat up one of the maids."

"Lord, I-" Mike stammered uncertainly.

"I don't want to hear another word from you. You stay away from her- I won't have you sowing impropriety and besmirching the purity of the maids on this property. Do you hear me?"

Mike nodded.

"Then get out."

Mike turned on his heel and strode out as quickly as possible. Bella kept her eyes focused on the floor but saw from her peripheral vision Mike cast a wide eyed apologetic look at her as he turned from the room.

Edward began to stalk towards her. "Is this how you behave? Flirting with my manservants instead of doing your work?"

Bella felt unable to talk, barely even able to breathe. She knew what it could have possibly been interpreted as, but honestly maids and maidservants interacted all the time. It was a necessity in order for any work to get done. She didn't understand what they had done that was so wrong- it was obvious that they were simply talking, which she supposed made her guilty of shirking her duties and somewhat, but certainly not anything more.

"Answer me!"

Bella knew she had to say something. Gathering her courage, she forced herself to look up into his eyes. "No sir." Bella was struck by a momentary sense of wonderment at the purity of the green color in his stare, like an emerald or moss. She quickly darted her eyes back down, mentally trying to remove herself from the situation.

Edward began to walk in a circle around. "Do you know what happens to maids who are seen fraternizing with manservants? They are ruined. Forever. Do you realize that you are putting yourself at risk? Because if any impropriety is seen between servants, it is the female who is fired, not the male."

With this he had finished his circle and was standing directly in front of her. Suddenly, he reached out his hand and Bella felt his hand underneath her chin, lifting it up so she was forced to look up at him.

Edward let out a slight gasp when their eyes connected, his face softening for the briefest of moments before he collected and returned it to the look of gruff admonition.

"Do you have… Do you have some kind of a relationship with this servant?"

Bella tried to shake her head no.

"Answer me. Out loud."

"No sir."

"And do you have- do you have any… feelings… for this servant?" With this Edward peered into her eyes more intently than before, and Bella had the distinct feeling that she was being read or analyzed.

"No sir."

Edward stared at her a few moments longer, before finally removing his hand. "Good. It needs to stay that way. I forbid you from associating with him or any of the other male servants."

Bella couldn't help but turn her eyes away and look at the ground. She had noticed the long lean lines of his body, the muscle hinted at beneath his finery, and think of what an incredibly handsome man he was. She hadn't really had the opportunity to fully take in the delicately chiseled lines of his face before, or the lush green intensity of his eyes, but now that she had Bella could see why so many young noblewomen were after him. Regardless, Bella could only hope that Edward would leave the room soon.

"After all, you know how young men think."

Bella looked back up again.

"They're only after one thing."

With this his gaze traveled down her body, before moving back up. Bella knew this was a warning from him, but the whole thing felt so incredibly bizarre. As soon as his eyes met hers she shot them back down to the ground. With this, Edward turned on his heel and headed back out the door.

Bella let out a huge sigh. What a disaster. Now it seemed that Edward was thinking she was having, or planning to have, some kind of an affair with Mike. And of course anyone would be angry about two servants having an intimate relationship. But still it seemed an odd reaction. While working for the Wellingtons, two servants had begun an affair and Mr. Wellington had found out. However, he reacted in the usual fashion, by removing both of them from service. Some employers kicked out just the female, but Mr. Wellington was dissatisfied with the male servant anyone and for him it was the last straw. Bella wondered if Edward were going to talk to Carlisle about it, but of course had he wanted to he could have fired both of them on the spot. Bella tried not to let her thoughts distract her too much from her cleaning, and before she knew it is was done. Anxious to not spend a moment longer in the room, Bella collected her things and rushed out. Hurrying down the stairs, Bella was almost to the kitchen when she realized how odd it was that Edward had not seemingly had a purpose to be in the living room. He hadn't retrieved anything at all, simply shouted at her and left. Bella wondered why he was there at all.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Please let me know how y'all like this chapter! It's a bit of a departure from my previous chapters but I went through a bit of writer's block and the inspiration was kind of hard to come by. So please let me know how you feel about this direction! :) **_

The next day, Bella awoke and immediately rushed downstairs to fill the water pitchers in each of the Cullens' rooms. Lugging each pitcher up to each of the family members' bedrooms, she first placed the pitcher onto the side table, with an embroidered linen handcloth folded over the lip. Next, she collected some logs and sticks from the basin next to the fireplace, and began assembling a fire.

All of this was done totally silently, with Bella barely daring to breathe for fear of waking someone. First she went to Carlisle's room, then Rosalie's, then Alice's, before finally ending in Edward's. When she came into the room, Edward was sitting upright in bed, reading a book. Bella crept in and froze when she saw him awake. He instantly looked up at her and silently stared.

Bella apologized and began to quietly creep out. Edward waved his hand to stop her.

"Continue."

Bella apprehensively walked to the side table and placed the pitcher down gently, careful not to spill. She wondered how angry Edward would still be about the events of the prior night. All the while she could feel his eyes on her back.

Striding over to the fireplace and deliberately avoiding eye contact. She heard Edward rise from the bed and stride over to the wash basin. It seemed to Bella that she heard the sound of water splashing. Bella turned her head and noticed Edward rubbing his shaving brush in his cream pot. She turned quickly as she realized he was going to shave.

Turning her full attention to the fire, Bella began holding her candle to the kindling. Try all she might, she seemed completely unable to get the stick to catch. In her nervousness, Bella knew that she was probably blowing too hard on the logs and causing the embers to burn out. But it was all she could do to even stay in the room, so strange was the energy Bella felt being directed at her.

Finally, after about two minutes,Bella finished and turned to leave. She hadn't expected any of the Cullens to be awake at this hour. Glancing over at Edward, Bella saw he was almost done with his shave and began to stride quickly to the door. She was just a foot away from it when she heard it.

"Hold."

Bella knew she had to obey this order from Edward, so she slowly turned to face him. He was finishing the final stroke that would clear his face of the shaving cream. As he carefully finished the last stroke, he fixed his eyes upon her.

Crefully dipping his handcloth in the jug of water, he wetted it before dabbing his face with it.

"I cut myself."

Bella stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what to do.

Edward whipped towards her suddenly, questioningly, as if demanding to know why she hadn't reacted to what he said.

"I- my lord- may I… retrieve a piece of cream with which to dab it with?"

This was the only remedy that Bella could think of. It was a special cream for cuts that the Cullens routinely bought at the apothecary. While it was usually used for large cuts and scrapes, it seemed that Edward expected her to do something, and this was the only thing that Bella could think of.

Edward nodded, and Bella scampered from the room, rushing to the bottom kitchen area where herbs and remedies were kept. Taking the small pot, she carried it in her hands and she carefully ran up the three stories back to Edward's bedroom.

Edward was waiting by his window, gazing out. As she stood in the doorway she could see his body against the light, each strong muscle in his chest highlighted by the light. The muscles in his back rippled slightly and he turned his head when she came in.

Bella walked over to him. "Here you are, sir."

Edward pointed to a spot on his jawline, "It's here."

Bella looked and could barely see a little spot of red. She doubted that it was a serious cut, but clearly Edward expected her to treat the "wound" herself, if his expectant pointing was any indication.

"Sir, would you like me to treat it for you?" Bella asked softly, hoping the answer would be no.

Edward stared at her for a moment, impatiently. "Yes."

Hesitantly, Bella unscrewed the lid from the ointment and dabbed her middle finger in the cream. Lifting it to his chin, she gently brushed it onto the affected area, a little nick about the length of a pinky fingernail.

She focused intently on the cut, but she could feel Edward's eyes on her face, and she was distinctly aware of the close proximity of his shirtless chest, which rose and fell heavily.

"There, my lord." Bella quickly put her hand back down and screwed the lid back on. She turned to stride back to the door.

"I need a riding companion today. Have my horse prepared."

Bella nodded and headed down to the stables. Just one more task and she could be done with the nerve-wracking stress of being around Edward and resume her other duties.


	5. Chapter 5

_**I got a comment requesting a longer chapter so... here it is! Thanks for all the feedback last time :) So appreciated!**_

Bella ran into the stables to let the stableboys know to get Edward's horse ready for his ride. She approached the first man she saw.

"Edward needs his horse ready immediately- he's going to ride out!" Bella felt almost frantic and she didn't know why. But there was something about Edward that always made her feel nervous and on edge, almost as though she was being examined under a microscope.

The boy paused, a large bale of hay in his arms as he headed over to one of the horse stalls. "Right now? It's not even past breakfast."

Bella nodded, and the man grunted. Bella hadn't had much interaction with the stablehands since she had begun working at the Cullen estate. In such a large manor, there was not much need for the house servants to be dealing with the stable workers. But as Bella watched the man hoist a saddle onto Edward's horse's back, she was reminded of how much she had enjoyed her trips to the stable when working for the Wellingtons. In the Wellington's smaller household, she had often had to carry messages to the stableworkers, and it was always a welcome opportunity to smell the outdoors and take in the sights and sounds of nature.

Bella was suddenly reminded of Edward's outburst the night before- it seemed there would be very few interactions with the stableboys any time soon, or any males for that matter. Bella understood the need for propriety of course, but this seemed so extreme. Bella knew that it _might _have appeared to the casual observer that she and Michael had been flirting last night. But really, she would have thought her body language would have made it clear to anyone that there was nothing romantic going on. Bella felt almost as though she had been singled out by Edward for some reason. It just reaffirmed to her the need to get everything right, the need to not mess up in front of him. If for some reason he had decided she was a tart, she had no choice but to prove him wrong.

"It's done," the stableboy called over to her. "Ready to go."

"Thank you. I'll let him know." Bella whirled back around and headed back into the house. Usually she would have given her name or stayed for a polite chat, but with the order from Edward there was no room for that anymore.

Bella ran up the stairs to Edward's room. Before she strode in, she quickly glanced around to make sure no one else was around and checked her appearance in a mirror. She smoothed her fingers over her hair, then quickly pinched her cheeks for some color.

"My lord, your horse is ready." Bella curtsied as she said it, and felt a wave of relief begin to hit her as she realized Edward would soon be out of her hands.

"Excellent." Edward finished adjusting the sleeve button on his riding jacket, then authoritatively strode from the room. "Ask the cook if she has my breakfast."

Bella walked after him down the stairs, then ducked into the servants' stairs and headed to the kitchen.

"Angela! Edward needs his lunch."

Angela was busy loading things into woven basket. "Perfect timing. Almost done- there." She triumphantly folded a linen cloth over the top of it and handed it to Bella.

Bella thanked Andrea and raced back up the stairs, out to the stables. "Here you go, my lord."

Edward took the basket and handed it to the stableboy, who wordlessly strapped it onto the back of Edward's horse.

"Where is her horse?" Edward asked imperiously as he pulled on a riding glove.

The stableboy looked at Edward with an expression of utter bewilderment.

"Sir, I didn't know- she never mentioned…"

Edward turned to Bella with a look of shock. Bella returned his stare with a look of utter confusion.

"My lord, I am so sorry, I did not realize that you would need another horse today."

"I specifically told you I would need a riding companion."

"I'm very sorry, I- I must have misunderstood." Bella bowed deeply.

"It's of no matter. Can you ride?"

"Ride? Me? I… but why?"

Edward raised his eyebrows at her, as if daring her to question him.

"No, sir, I cannot ride. I never learned."

"Then you'll ride with me. I don't have time to waste having another horse saddled and certainly not training someone to ride."

Bella's eyes had been resolutely directed at the ground but with this they shot up. She looked at Edward with a look of utter shock. This seemed to anger Edward a bit, and his expression turned from a look of slight annoyance to one of anger. "I assure you that I am a perfectly competent rider. I also don't feel like wasting any more time so I must ask you to make haste."

The protests that had been hovering in Bella's mouth died on her tongue. Bella felt bile rise up in her throat as the idea of spending the rest of the day not only with Edward, but in such close proximity to him. Especially on a horse- Bella remembered riding once or twice with her father when she was little, but not since then and the idea scared her.

Bella found herself hysterically wondering to herself why it had to be her who went with him. Why did it have to be her who did the fire-tending duties this morning, and this foisted herself into the "riding companion" position she now found herself?

She had not been told by Jessica anything about this particular duty that would be expected of her, and frankly she was shocked and dismayed about the prospect. This clearly must be something Edward occasionally did, and given the fact that Jessica loved to drone on about every aspect of maid duties, Bella found it infuriating that she would not have mentioned this task in particular.

But there was nothing for it. Disobedience was not an option. Bella much preffered the idea of a ride on this horse to a long walk back into town and a search for a new family to work for. She walked over hesitantly to the horse, feeling Edward's eyes on her the whole time. Bella was shocked at the height of the thing, it was taller than her head. She had no idea how she was going to hoist herself up.

"Do you need some help, miss? " The stableboy had walked over to her and reached his hand out to her. "I can just give you a lift-"

"Get my riding crop," Edward interrupted him and strode over to Bella, quite rudely Bella thought. "Here."

Edward's hand quickly encircled her waist, lingering there for a second before hoisting her up into the saddle as if she weighed no more than a child. Bella hesitated in the air for just a second and then lifted her leg over the saddle.

The stableboy walked over and handed the riding crop to Edward. A second passed and the Edward grabbed the back of the saddle and swung himself up. Suddenly Bella could feel Edward's presence against her back. As he situated himself on the saddle, their thighs came into contact, the back of Bella's just touching the front of Edward's. Bella scooted herself as far forward as she could on the saddle, but she quickly realized that their thighs touching was going to be a nonnegotiable on the saddle, which had only been built for one. Edward bent forward ever so slightly, bringing his chest in contact with her upper back, and quickly snatched the reins before leaning back again. Bella felt Edward shake the reins behind her, and give a small kick with his leg, and suddenly they were off, the horse trotting out of the stables.

They rode along in silence, and Bella felt as though she had never been so acutely uncomfortable and aware of herself in her whole life. If having to serve Edward at the house was excruciating, this close contact was absolute torture. They trotted over the land and Bella was bouncing along with each step. She found the motion of the horse extremely uncomfortable, and felt like her crotch was being slammed down with every step.

"You have to move with the horse."

Bella turned to Edward. "What?" She was unsure why he would even be deigning to address her or concerned about her riding skills.

"You just move your hips with the motion of the horse."

"Oh, ok. Thank you, my lord." Bella tried to do so and she felt the pain diminish a lot. It still was a bit uncomfortable, but definitely not to the same extent as it had been.

Apparently Edward was satisfied with this change as he kicked the horse again, and it broke into a gallop. Suddenly, Bella noticed the countryside rushing past her as the horse moved at lightning speed, faster even then the carriage she had been in. Bella had never gone so fast in her life and it made her feel a bit dizzy. The increased speed had made her lose her newly calibrated rhythm with the horse, and she was now bouncing up and down worse than before. Each downward motion hurt, and Bella was gravely uncomfortable.

She felt Edward's chest lean against her back, and him pull the reins back, slowing the horse back down to a trot.

"You must learn to move your hips to the rhysthm of the horse. You cannot fight against it."

Bella quickly flexed her hips, bet to be honest, the motion felt mortifying, somehow scandalous to her. "I'm sorry my lord, I've tried. I think I am not cut out for riding." Bella looked over her shoulder apologetically at him.

Edward's eyes bore into hers. He seemed to debate with himself for a couple of seconds, and then he reached forward and placed his hands on her hips.

Bella reacted as though she had been shocked with electricity, jumping somewhat in her seat.

Edward gripped her hips, and forced her to move them with the horse. "it's simple really, just a dance between you and the horse. So easy to get the hang of it."

Bella felt so startled by the fact that Edward's hands were gripping her hips that she could barely formulate a thought. But as she felt Edward's powerful hands guiding her hips in tune to the motion of the horse, she felt as though she could pick up a pattern, almost like the beat of a song. Up and down, forward and back. It was so easy to just go with it and sink into the motion of the horse. The pain of bouncing up and down went away almost immediately as soon as she stopped fighting and cooperated with the trot of the horse and the guiding of Edward's hands.

For a second Bella forgot that she was in the company of a duke. "Oh, this is much better! It's almost fun!" she chirped happily.

There was a pause, during which time Bella realized how innapropriate her friendly outburst was when Edward was doing nothing more than preventing her from bouncing around all in front of him.

"Yes, well, I think you've got it now." Edward's voice sounded almost hoarse, and he quickly removed his hands from Bella's waist.

Kicking the side of his horse again, they broke out into another gallop. This one was much easier for Bella, and she found herself enjoying this foray into the country, and her opportunity to be out in nature.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Thanks for all the great reviews and feedback! It seems like you guys liked the last entry- yay! Hope this one lives up and PLEASE send me your ideas for what you want to see happen! I love reading them and it gives me story ideas too ;) Thanks!**_

Galloping across the English countryside, Bella tried to keep her nervousness under control. Not only was she travelling faster than she ever had before, but she was within inches of her overseer Edward. She could feel his breath of her neck occasionally, and sometimes his hands would brush against her back as he steered the reins. It was nerve-racking to be sure- Bella was unused to being in the company of the families she worked for for any longer than a dinner service- and now she was right next to Lord Edward for who knew how long.

Bella tried to take her mind of the awkwardness of her situation by focusing on the beauty of the English countryside. It was truly astonishing to Bella to see the vastness of the Cullens' property. They rode through meadows, across streams and through woods, and still Edward kept riding. Everything was the most vivid shade of green, and Bella felt lucky to be able to be outside, even if it were under such uncomfortable circumstances.

At length, Edward slowed his horse. They were approaching a field, segmented by lines of brown dirt that were dotted with small green sprouts. Edward swung himself down to the ground and headed over to the nearest line. Crouching to the ground, he plucked a green sprout from the dirt and held it in front of him. He studied it closely with his eyes before rolling it between his fingers and finally snapping it in two and studying the broken stem.

Finally he stood and turned back toward Bella. "Wait here." Then he walked off towards the farmhouse.

Bella watched him walk towards the farmhouse, and she fidgeted on the saddle. As pleasant as it was to feel the sunshine and breeze on her face, Bella couldn't help but worry about the work she was missing at the manor. She had been told by Jessica that she would be doing the laundry today, which was intensive and labor heavy work.

After a few minutes, Edward emerged from the barn, with the farmer walking alongside him. They bent in unison to the ground where Edward gestured and repeated the examination of the sprouts. The farmer and he spoke for the next few minutes, with the farmer looking excessively nervous. Finally, the farmer bowed low to Edward, who began walking back towards Bella.

Bella fleetingly thought of what it must be like to be a future Duke. To be regarded with such apprehension and nervousness by all you encountered. It seemed as though Edward hardly noticed it. He seemed to wear his authority like a mantle, with the surety that can only come from being born into such a position. It seemed to make him even more intimidating, if that was possible, and Bella could see why the farmer looked so nervous and apprehensive.

Edward silently climbed atop the saddle again, reaching forward to grab the reins and then starting the horse with a small kick to the side. Edward rode to another farm and repeated the whole process, examining the crop and speaking with a farmer. He spent about a half an hour at each farm, and visited three more farms. The sun was now in the center of the sky, so Bella guessed it had to be around noon.

Edward climbed back aboard the horse and kicked it into a gallop, leading them along a stream that led to a lake. The lake was next to a meadow, and was bordered on three sides by trees. Edward stopped his horse in the meadow next to the water, and climbed down to the ground. Bella remained seated on the steed while Edward crossed behind and began removing the basket from the back.

"It is time for my lunch service." Edward called to her. Bella at once understood why Edward had insisted on her presence on his day trip. While she had never been told that he required a servant to prepare his lunch, this must be the reason why she was here with him. Bella instantly tried to climb down, swinging her legs to one side. But as she looked to the ground, she realized that the drop was simply too large and she was unsure of how she would be able to safely dismount.

"Wait." Edward commanded, striding back to her side. Bella was shocked when he offered his arm for her to hold. She debated the proper protocol for such an event, but none came to mind as she had never heard of a master offering help to a servant. But Bella didn't see any other options, as she certainly couldn't leap to the ground on her own.

Grasping his arm, she tentatively lowered one foot almost to the ground, then let her other foot drop so she landed safely on the ground. At the last second Edward's arm raised somewhat tentatively, almost as though he were going to catch her other arm, but he quickly dropped it as Bella landed.

"Thank you, my Lord." Bella smoothed down the front of her white apron. She was wearing a blue flower printed muslin dress underneath, one of the Wellington daughters' castoffs.

Edward simply nodded in response. Bella began to head over to the basket, intending to lay out the food and prepare Edward's meal for him. However, he saw her direction and quickly beat her to it, picking up the basket and moving it to a spot in the meadow, on the edge of the lake. He quickly set the basket down and opened it, pulling out the linen blanket that Angela had packed and laying it on the ground.

Edward turned to Bella, "Please prepare dinner."

Bella was staring dumbfounded at him, wondering why he was not simply allowing her to do all of the work. She quickly composed herself and headed to the basket, taking out each item and laying it neatly on the blanket. Angela had packed a delicious looking assortment of meats and cheeses, as well as bread and bottles of wine and tea. For some reason she had packed two plates, glasses, and silverware items, and Bella supposed this was in case one item broke.

She sliced into the white bread as Edward watched, carefully laying it on the plate next to a sliver of pâté, a small pile of turkey meat, and some pieces of ham. Next she sliced some cheese and arranged the various pieces artfully, so that Edward could choose what exactly he wanted to eat. Then she poured one glass of wine, and another of tea. She plucked some grapes, and piled them onto the plate as well. It made for a rustic but elegant looking lunch.

"My lord, your dinner is ready." Bella could not help but hear her own stomach growl as she curtsied and passed the plate to Edward. She was unsure of when she would be able to eat, as the servants would surely have already had their own dinner by the time they were able to return back to the manor. Bella supposed she would simply have to settle for a large supper, and maybe could convince Angela to give her some apples or bread to tide her over until then.

Edward did not take the plate, but instead stretched out his hand to gesture to the picnic basket.

"Please, prepare yourself a plate."

Bella stared at him dumbfounded. "No sir, it is quite alright, I-"

"I will not have my servants going hungry." Edward said impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest.

Bella froze, and Edward raised one eyebrow questioningly. Realizing her impertinence at ignoring his request, she quickly placed the plate she had already prepared down and put together another one, adding the same combination of items. Upon finishing, she looked up to inform Edward and saw he was already watching her, and presumably aware of the completion of the task.

She handed the first plate to him, which had a bit more food on it, and picked up the other one, with the intention to move somewhere else to eat her food alone.

"Sit." Edward stated commandingly, striding over and lowering himself to the ground so that he was on the opposite corner of the cloth.

Bella found herself shocked once again by the impropriety of the whole thing, and unsure as to how to proceed. But if his cocked eyebrow earlier had been any indication, he did not enjoy being disregarded, even if it was for the sake of proper servant protocol.

Sitting back down, Bella hesitantly ripped off a piece of bread and placed a sliver of pâté and cheese on top of it. Placing it in her mouth, she delighted in the richness of the pâté and cheese. Edward and she ate in silence, and Bella was able to look around at the beauty of the lake and meadow. The sunlight dappled through the trees which surrounded the edge of the lake, casting dancing shadows on the water.

Bella could hear birds chirping and frogs croaking, and the light breeze blew the grass in the meadow so that it moved in the wind. In this environ, Bella almost felt as though she could forget all the duties resting on her shoulders, the fact that she had left behind a week's worth of laundry and a probably very angry Jessica.

Suddenly Bella became aware of the fact that Edward was looking at her. She turned to him and he quickly looked past her, as though he had been caught doing something and was trying to pretend to be doing something else. It was all so odd. She truly felt she had never been employed by someone so odd as Edward. He was so commanding and authoritative, and yet at times he could be incredibly considerate and kind.

Edward cleared his throat. "Did you- did you think about what I told you last night?"

"About staying away from the men?" Bella asked, wondering what had brought on this sudden desire to be conversational from Edward.

Edward nodded.

"Yes, I- I did. I didn't speak to any of them last night." Bella was unsure why Edward even cared so much. He had certainly made his point at the time, but Bella could see how much Edward liked for his commands to be listened to. He also seemed to be so determined on this issue that it seemed she would have had no choice but to listen, no matter her opinion of his advice.

Edward's expression softened briefly, but then turned dark. "Did any of them try to speak with you?"

Bella debated how to answer, but the intensity of Edward's focus made her feel as though any attempt to lie would be futile. "Yes, well Michael- I think he just wanted to discuss what- to apologize…"

Bella's voice trailed off as she watched Edward squeeze both his hands into a tight fist. Bella was glad he had not been holding anything, as she was sure he would have broken any glass or stemware and probably bent the silver.

"I told him to stay away from you!" Edward croaked out furiously, his eyes burning into hers.

"My lord, I know- he had no bad intentions-"

At this Edward let out a bitter, false sounding laugh before contorting his face into a dark stare. "You have no _idea_ of his intentions and it's probably best that way."

Bella was completely unsure of what to say or how to approach the situation.

"But my Lord, he didn't- I told him that we had to-"

With this Edward ran a frustrated hand through his copper hair, squeezing it slightly as he stood up and began to pace around the blanket. He turned suddenly and fixed his gaze intently upon her.

"You've never been courted by a man before, have you?"

Bella shook her head. "No, my lord."

His expression seemed to relax briefly before becoming apprehensive again.

"Then you've no idea of how a man acts when he takes an… interest… in a woman."

Bella watched him walk around the blanket, again thinking of how bizarre it was and how utterly strict Edward seemed to be about the behavior of his servants. It seemed to Bella as though it would not greatly affect Edward or his family if she were to run off with any of the manservants. But it seemed that Edward was a stickler for protocol, and truly Bella was very naïve and innocent when it came to interaction with the opposite sex, so perhaps his adamancy with her was really as necessary as he seemed to think.

"When a man is truly _interested _in a woman he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Any manner of manipulation, caprice, dishonesty is fair game in order to get her to take an interest back."

Bella merely looked at him openmouthed, as he stood on the edge of the blanket and stared intently at her.

"You don't understand what a man sees when he looks at you. I'm assuming you've spent most of your life around women, Miss…" With this Edward got a shocked look on his face. "My God- I don't even know your name."

"Miss Swan. Bella Swan." Bella struggled to keep her voice calm and to not betray the huge insult she felt at being labeled a naïve idiot. "And while the Wellington household was mostly female, I assure that I have spent time with men-"

"Spent time?" This seemed to peak Edward's interest and he looked at her accusatorily.

"Yes, there were stable hands and a couple of menservant at the Wellingtons, my lord." Bella knew she shouldn't but couldn't help but adding an indignant, "We weren't as provincial as you seem to think."

Despite the impertinence of the last sentence, this seemed to ease Edward's attitude somewhat, and he fell back into silence, before stalking away and disappearing into the trees around the lake.

Bella resumed eating, all the while looking out for him among the trees. She found that the whole exchange had largely ruined her appetite and she finished eating quickly, throwing some of her uneaten leftovers onto the ground for the birds to pick up.

There wasn't much left on Edward's plate so she scraped the rest off and quickly packed up the plates and extra food, covering it all with the blanket and tucking it back into the picnic basket. As she strapped the basket onto the back of Edward's horse, he emerged from the woods.

Bella was filled with apprehension as she watched him approach her and the horse, sure that he would be unhappy with her impertinence and blame her for the strange turn that the conversation had taken.

Upon reaching them, Edward turned to Bella with his usual composed appearance. Bella could only hope that all was forgotten.

"What is your name?"

"Bella. Bella Swan, my lord." Bella dipped into a curtsy, the whole time thinking how utterly bizarre it would be that Edward would even care what a servant's name was.

Edward's eyes locked with hers. "How fitting."

With this, he held out his arm, and Bella used it to hoist herself up to the horse.


	7. Chapter 7

Bella and Edward visited several other farms before making their way back to the manor. By this point, Bella felt exhausted. Not only from the physicality of the riding, but the emotional strain of being anywhere near Edward was nearly too much to bear. There was something so intense about him and she felt as though it sucked the life right out of her. She constantly felt as though she had to be on her best behavior, because she felt as though Edward's eyes were always upon her. When he announced that they were going to head home, Bella felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

Pulling up to the stable, Edward seemed agitated. He silently swung himself off the horse and strode back to the house. Bella looked helplessly after him, wondering how she was going to manage to climb down.

"Wow, looks like he was in some mood." A tall, deeply tanned walked over to Bella, outstretching his hand. "Let me help you get down."

Bella hesitantly took his arm. He looked to be a stable worker, betrayed by his suntanned skin and muscular frame. "Yes, I'm afraid I must have done something…"

The man laughed as he swung her down gracefully. "Oh, it's not you Miss. That's Sir Edward- always in a mood about something or other."

Bella nodded and smiled. "I'm Bella."

"Jacob." He grinned broadly at her. "Are you new here? I haven't seen you around."

"Yes, I just came from the Wellingtons. I'm a new maid."

"Well, just be careful. Edward can be a real stickler."

Bella nodded.

"How strange that he asked you to ride out with him. Usually he likes to go out alone and brood."

Bella laughed. She knew it probably wasn't right to be making fun of Edward, but it was good to be around someone as fun and jovial as Jacob after being around Edward's seriousness all day.

"I don't even know why he invited me, I suspect that I did not live up to the duties of the other maids."

Jacobs eyes briefly swept down her body. "I suspect that you provided exactly what he wanted."

Bella smiled. "That's so nice of you, but I feel hopeless in learning the many ways of the Cullen household. How long have you worked here?"

"I've lived on the property since I was a boy. My father worked in the stables with me, until he got too old and now he oversees construction around the property."

"How nice. Well I doubt if I'll last more than a week here."

Jacob grinned at her, "I've a feeling that you definitely will, especially considering that Edward had you attend to him today."

Bella felt confused but wasn't sure how to respond. "Well thank you Jacob. Hopefully I'll be seeing you around."

"Nice to meet you Bella. I'm sure you will."

Bella smiled at him and turned away. Before she left the stables she turned around to take another look, and found him watching her leave. She gave him a small wave and walked out.

Bella was delighted to have found such a nice friend. His warmth and openness reminded her of her best friend at the Wellingtons, Mary. Mary had always had a smile on her face and a kind word to say, not to mention a mischievous glint in her eye. Jacob seemed the same way to her and Bella hoped she would be running into him again.

The next few days passed without incident. She had been sure that Jessica would be upset with her for missing out on her chores, but to her surprise Jessica was relatively silent. She definitely gave Bella a few unfriendly glares, and gave her extra duties for the dinner service. But she didn't

Bella went to pour the water in to the bath. She was sure that it was Jessica's pleasure to give her such a back breaking job, but Jessica never seemed to tire of assigning Bella to do the most menial and difficult tasks. She was on her final bucket. Bella was relieved to be done soon. Soon either Rosalie or Alice would come to the room and it would be Bella's task to wash them. As strange as it may have seemed to wash another person, she had been doing the task since she was a young girl. It was also good preparation for being a lady's maid, wherein she would have to dress and groom her mistresses every day. It was Bella's ardent hope that if she performed the bathing well enough, she would one day be recognized as an excellent potential for a lady's maid.

Bella heard the door open and shut. She had not been expecting either lady so quickly and she worried that she had not placed the soap in the proper area, nor arranged the rags and oils and other items she would use in the bathing process.

Bella quickly arranged things, then turned around quickly and gave a low curtsy.

"My lady, the bath water is hot but ready, I-"

Bella looked up and was stunned into silence when she realized it was Edward who was facing her. He looked almost nervous, and she wondered what on earth he was doing here. The men were always washed by the manservants, at least in the Wellington household. This was the traditional system most refined households used, and Bella was shocked by the idea that the esteemed Cullens would not be following it.

Besides that, Bella was not sure she was at all ready to bathe a male. She had never seen a male undressed before, and it seemed to her incredibly indecent.

"Sir, I- I thought I would be bathing your sisters."

"Nay. My sisters are not requiring of a bath, but I am. I have had a hard morning riding out."

Bella was unsure what to say. She didn't want to be rude, but she _certainly _didn't want to bathe Edward or any male. The very idea of it made her feel flustered and awkward.

"Sir, would you like me to retrieve a manservant?" Bella began to move in the direction of the door, hoping that Edward would say yes and she could be relieved of this task. "It would be no trouble…"

"No." Edward's voice sounded firm and almost a bit angry. "Your service will suffice."

Bella gulped and nodded, moving back from the door to her place at the tub.

Edward began to unbutton his waistcoat, his eyes watching Bella.

Bella quickly turned around so that she would not have to watch. She turned towards the tub and away from the door where Edward was standing, and tried to focus out the window at the rolling hills. She could not believe the idea that Edward would be undressed in front of her. Try as she might not to focus on it, she couldn't help but hear the soft drop of clothes as they hit the floor.

She heard Edward move behind her, and then saw him cross in front of her vision, standing directly in front of the window and blocking her view. Bella quickly looked away and stared at the opposite wall. Edward stood there for what seemed like a good minute, and then crossed to the tub and lowered himself in.

Bella watched from her peripheral vision. She knew that if she was following the same protocol as she followed with her female mistresses, she would have to soap and wash his body.

She waited for some minutes, allowing Edward to soak his body. She hoped in the back of her mind that he wouldn't want her to soap him. Surely he could do it himself, and maybe he would be as uncomfortable with the idea of her washing him as she was.

"I am ready."

Bella gulped. She knew this was the signal for her to begin the cleansing process. There was no more delaying the inevitable.

She crossed over to the bath, and picked up a linen rag, carefully dipping it in the water and rubbing the bar of soap against it until she had worked up a lather. The whole time she was careful to avoid any look at Edward's body, keeping her eyes directly in front of her and on the washcloth.

Once it was sufficiently lathered, Bella brought the cloth to the tub. Just as she was about to touch the washcloth to Edward's shoulder, he stood from the tub. In Bella's bent position, she went from looking at Edward's arm to having a close up view of his appendage. And it was incredibly scary looking. She had never seen a man's member before and this thing looked absolutely huge. Bella knew very little about sex but she did know that the male sex organ supposedly fit inside the females and she thought to herself that if that was true than she might as well join a convent now, as there was no physical possibility of that being able to happen for her.

Quickly Bella threw her gaze to the side and rose up to her feet, desperate to get away from the imposing looking thing in front of her. She hesitantly looked up to Edward's face and saw that he had a strange expression of amusement crossed with some kind of need.

Bella pressed the washcloth to Edward's arm. She wanted this process to be over as quickly as possible. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable, particularly with Edward standing naked in front of her. Gently, Bella began to move the washcloth in a circular motion, working it into a lather.

Bella got the lather going on Edward's upper arm, and moved down to his lower arm. She noticed and could feel the strong muscles in his biceps. When she lowered the washcloth to his hands, she noticed that they were clenched, causing his arm muscles to stand out even more.

Bella finished with his right arm and moved to his left. She tried to focus on the area only in front of her, and not at any of the rest of Edward's body. Bella could hear Edward's breathing, and she noticed that he was taking loud breaths.

Finishing his arm, she crossed to his back, starting at the top and working her way down. As she scrubbed the upper part, she couldn't help but notice the fierce band of muscles. These were hardly the muscles of a gentleman- they were so define d and strong. Bella figured it was all his riding and constant physical exertion that caused them, but it was still a surprise. As she worked her way to his lower back, she couldn't help but notice the strength in his ass. Bella thought how different his ass was from hers. His was so high and muscled, while her own was rounder and softer. She had never seen a man's backside before and she wondered if all of them were so tight and taut, or if Edward's was an exception.

Bella avoided this area- it was generally the procedure in her previous household not to wash any of the private areas.

Bella crossed to Edward's front. She figured it was time to face the inevitable: washing Edward's front. She had been dreading this because she hated being face to face with him. The intensity of his gaze was so fierce that it often scared her. And Edward did nothing to reduce her fears because he constantly stared unabashedly into her eyes.

But there was nothing for it. Bella dipped the washcloth into the bathwater and rubbed more soap onto it. Then, she gently pressed it to his chest. Bella heard Edward inhale sharply when she did so.

"Is that alright, my lord?" Bella was concerned from his gasp that something was wrong. "Am I hurting you?"

Edward looked at her with astonishment. "No, it does not hurt at all. Continue."

Bella nodded, feeling silly for her small outburst. She began to work the washcloth in circles on his chest, marveling at the hardness of his muscles. His chest felt as hard as a rock to her, and it was amazing to think of the strength that lay behind it.

Finishing with his chest, she moved down his body to his stomach area. Bella was shocked to find this area bisected into little hard rectangles of muscle, each of which stood out and glistened in the sun. As she touched the area with a washcloth, she felt Edward's muscle move underneath her hand and Bella let out a small gasp.

She glanced up at Edward and saw him looking down at her amusedly. She quickly resumed her actions, soaping up the area and trying not to focus on the beauty of his form, which seemed so incredibly and totally masculine.

Bella finished with the soaping and she handed the cloth to Edward with a curtsy. In the Wellington household, the Wellington girls had always washed all their private areas themselves. She knew that Edward had the authority to order her to wash his netherregions, but Bella hoped that he would not do so. She turned towards the door and waited until Edward called for her.

Bella bent by the bucket next to the tub and ladled out the hot water, which she slowly poured over Edward's body. She repeated this process until the bucket was empty and Edward's body was free of soap. Then Bella quickly turned to the wall, allowing Edward privacy in order to get dressed.

Bella heard the sound of Edward changing into his clothes, then heard the door open and Edward slip out. Bella had to say she was relieved that the task was over. It was an awkward task regardless of the recipient, and to have Edward bearing down on her with his gaze was incredibly uncomfortable. Bella had no idea why Edward acted so peculiarly, but she could only assume that being raised with all the wealth and power in the world would do that to a person.

As Bella picked up Edward's dirty clothes and began to straighten up the washroom, she found herself distracted by the idea of Edward's body. He had his faults, but his physical form was not one of them. And while Bella had never really thought too much about it before, she found herself suddenly liking the idea of having a husband one day.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey all! Sorry for the long wait- I actually had to have some skin cancer removed so I've been recovering lately. I was shocked by how tired I was after the surgery, I slept constantly! Anyways, there were a couple glitches with the last chapter I wanted to clarify. First being that a lot of you thought that meant something pretty lascivious when he said, "I suspect Edward got exactly what he wanted" from their ride. I can see totally where the confusion comes from, as it is a sexy line. BUT I want to clarify that he meant it in terms of him considering Bella to be very attractive, so Edward was probably looking to spend the day with her would have been exciting for him. Additionally, some kind of a glitch happened with the saving of the last chapter… so the entire end was left off and a lot of embarrassing spelling errors were left in! Ah! I noticed it and edited it about a week ago- if you read it before then I highly recommend going back and reading the end of the chapter. I included a page break so it would be easier to find. With that being said, hope you enjoy this chapter!**_

The entire staff at the manor was in a frenzy. The Cullens were hosting a ball in just a couple of days, and that meant that the entire place had to be scrubbed floor to ceiling. Bella had never been involved in preparations for such a grand ball. The Wellingtons had hosted their own social gatherings, of course, but not of this volume or nature. It was amazing to see the volume of food and fabrics being shipped in in each. Of course Rosalie and Alice were being fitted for brand new dresses, with silk brought in from France. When Bella walked past and saw the seamstresses flitting around them, she had felt a tiny wonder at what it would be like to live that way, to even be able to wear such fine fabrics.

But there was no time for that. Bella felt very nearly overwhelmed by preparations. She had to take down each of the silk curtains, which hung sixteen feet tall, and clean them. It was exhausting work, and the only end in sight would be the ball a couple of days away. Bella was relieved when Jessica gave her the task of once again bringing dinner out to Jacob. They had been spending time together here and there, whenever Bella had to bring food out to the stable workers.

Bella appreciated Jacob's sweet and fun personality. Even though he was so friendly, there was a hint of shyness in him that Bella appreciated. She felt as though he was incredibly positive and encouraging, and added a bit of sunshine to her day. So she had a bit of a spring in her step when she brought the food out to him and the other stable hands.

Jacob's eyes lit up when he saw her. "Bella!"

"Just bringing you out your dinner." Bella began unloading the basket that Angela had packed for the men, who usually ate standing or just squatting on the ground.

"Always a treat to get to see you." Jacob picked up a piece of bread and took a bite.

The other stable workers gathered around the spread that Bella had lain out on a table. Bella carefully handed out pieces of bread and meat to the stable hands, who each greeted her warmly. Bella noticed most of them shooting Jacob grins, and she wondered if their friendship had caused speculation in the stables. Jacob seemed slightly bothered by all of it, ignoring most of them and shooting glares at some of the more obvious ones. Bella found the whole thing somewhat amusing.

After she was done distributing the food, Bella moved to pick up the basket.

"Bella, can I speak with you?" Jacob had come up next to her.

"Of course. What about?"

"Could we go somewhere more private? Maybe just outside the stables?"

Bella thought about it and realized that Jessica wouldn't be mad if she was gone for an extra minute or two. She nodded and Jacob led her to a space just beyond the stable doorway, on the side of the barn. Bella guessed he wanted to be away from the prying eyes and ears of his fellow workers.

"Jacob, what is it?" Bella turned her eyes up to look Jacob in the eye. He was so tall.

"Bella," Jacob clasped his hands nervously. "I've so enjoyed spending time with you. But I was wondering if you might want to go for a walk sometime, maybe after supper or sometime when you're not busy with chores."

Bella felt her heart swell a bit. It seemed that Jacob was trying to initiate the process of officially courting her. It was so exciting to think a tall, handsome man like Jacob would take an interest in her.

"That would be lovely."

Jacob's face broke into a grin.

"But, I've been quite busy with preparations for the ball," Bella said. "It will probably have to wait until afterwards."

Jacob's smile faltered the slightest bit, but remained plastered on his face in an excited grin. "That's fine, we'll arrange something then."

Bella smiled at him. "Alright."

"We can take a walk around the property and I can show you everything. Or maybe I could even get to take out one of the steeds. Not the grand ones- of course, but I could show you the countryside."

Bella's thoughts briefly went to her previous foray to the country with Edward, but she refocused her mind on the present moment. She was sure that Jacob's trip with her would be much more pleasant and carefree.

"That sounds wonderful." Bella nodded.

"Great." Jacob smiled down at her contentedly, staring at her without saying anything.

"Jacob, I do have to get back to the kitchen." Bella hated to interrupt his apparent reverie but she didn't want invoke Jessica's notice and ire.

"Oh, of course." Jacob hurriedly turned and they walked back to the stables.

"Goodbye Jacob."

"Goodbye, Bella." Jacob grinned at her, looking incredibly happy and excited. "See you in a couple of days."

Bella turned to walk back to the manor, attempting to sear Jacob's joyful visage into her mind. It was truly flattering and wonderful to think such an attractive young male as Jacob would be interested in her. She knew she was about marrying age, and it was probably a good idea to begin thinking about finding a suitable husband. Or allowing one to find her, she should say.

The Wellington household had been incredibly strict about male female propriety and relations, and Bella had been far too young to engage in any real flirting as some of the older servants had. But unlike the Wellingtons, the Cullen family seemed relatively indifferent to the interactions between male and female servants, frequently having them serve at the same time or work together. Disregarding that one odd outburst from Edward, the Cullens seemed not really to care either way whether servants courted each other, or even if they engaged in more scandalous endeavors, as long as it did not affect their work.

Bella liked the idea of having a husband. A stable worker like Jacob would earn a moderate income and in a couple of years they might be able to save up and buy a farm or small business endeavor. He was certainly handsome. And had a very friendly and pleasing personality. All in all it was a very exciting prospect and Bella was excited to see what would happen.

The guests streamed up the stone steps of the Cullen manor, each of them trying to do the others with their finery. The women wore empire style dresses, and the men wore tailcoats with waistcoats. Bella had seen Alice and Rosalie earlier, and they looked simply stunning in their gowns, which were made from French silk.

Bella was dealt with arranging the food and otherwise monitoring the guests. The dancing and mingling started the evening, then at eight o'clock the guests would be offered various food and drink. There were no formal seating arrangements, but various places were set up around the room where people could sit and drink.

Bella's task currently was to stand against the wall and observe the guests, to make sure that the guests were having a good time and to be ready to attend to any who needed anything. Many of the other servants were lined up similarly, much the same as at dinner service. Many of the other female servants were downstairs helping Angela prepare the many dishes. And a good number of the male servants were outside greeting the guests and helping them from their carriages.

Bella found wondering whether Jacob was out there helping the guests. If so, she wondered if he would be wearing formal wear like the other male servants. All the servants had been ordered to wear their best attire. For the males, that meant their cotton tailcoats. Bella was wearing her best hand-me-down from the Wellingtons, a red cotton empire waist dress. It had beautiful embroidery on the breast section, in a slightly darker crimson than the rest of the dress.

Bella pressed herself against the wall. It was exceedingly boring to be having to stand here, as motionless as possible, and watch the guests. Bella knew that as the guests consumed the punch over the course of the night, they would become more inebriated and less inhibited. And she was sure that her boredom would decrease correspondingly.

Bella was stationed across from Michael. She was doing her best to avoid eye contact with him. They had made up a few days earlier, but Bella still feared Edward's reaction. She had made sure to only interact with him in servants' quarters, and had told him explicitly that they were not to be seen talking or interacting in public.

But every time Bella accidentally looked up, she noticed Michael attempting to catch her eye. It was rather annoying, if only because Bella wasn't sure where Edward was and she didn't want him to see Michael looking at her. He had seemed so angry that night. There was no doubt in Bella's mind that Edward had meant every word when he had told Michael that he would fire him on the spot if he saw him interacting with Bella again. Considering how withdrawn and taciturn Edward usually was, Bella considered the whole thing an unusually rare burst of emotion from him.

Bella scanned the room and so far it was only a small gathering of about twenty-five guests. Being early in the evening, the majority of the guests had not arrived yet. She didn't see Edward and so she allowed herself a quick glance over at Michael.

He was, sure enough, staring at her. When their eyes met, Michael grinned and quickly contorted his face into a ridiculous expression, his tongue sticking out and eyes rolled up into his head. Bella couldn't help but let out a small laugh at the curiousness of his expression.

She quickly averted her eyes back down to the ground, biting her lip to keep herself from laughing anymore.

To Bella's horror, she saw two perfectly shined leather shoes enter her sight line.

"Is something funny, Miss Swan?"

Bella immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Edward, and she felt the blood drain from her face. "No, your grace. Nothing."

"I would appreciate it if you would look at me when I address you."

Bella quickly lifted her eyes to meet his, realizing too late that she was still biting her lip. Quickly she realized it and she heard Edward let out a small gasp.

His expression softened for the smallest of seconds before moving back to the impassive mask that he usually wore. "What exactly prompted such a reaction in you, Miss Swan?"

"Nothing, your grace."

Edward turned to scan the room. His eyes ran over the various guests before resting on Michael, who was now staring straight at the ground, his face devoid of any amusement.

Edward turned back to Bella, his face now looking annoyed. "See to it that you do your job, Miss Swan. Let me remind you that I won't hesitate to throw out any servants that fail to act appropriately."

Bella nodded, swallowing the nervousness that had risen in her mouth. Having her job threatened was frightening enough, but something about Edward's particular mix of height, good lucks, and commanding presence combined to make her feel completely nervous and strange whenever she was in his presence.

To be honest, she wished she never had to deal with him again in her life. It seemed to her he focused unnecessarily hard on her. She had never seen him berate any other servant, let alone stare at them the way he did her.

And as if on cue to her image of him, she watched him walk across the room to a clearly terrified Michael. He said a few words, and Michael nodded then walked from the room. A minute later another servant came to take over Michael's post.

Bella only hoped that Michael hadn't been fired. From Edward's words, it seemed as though he was not firing anyone, but only threatening to in the future. Bella was relieved a bit later to see Michael walk in to replenish the punch supply. At least he still had a job. But Bella couldn't help but bristle. Why was Edward so incredibly concerned with her?

Generally, the attitude of the Cullens seemed to be absolute indifference and unconcern with the personal lives of their servants. They seemed content to allow Jessica to oversee them and keep them in line. In fact, that was why Bella had been hired, because a male and female servant had run off together. Bella surmised that perhaps that incident had made Edward more severe in his treatment of servants. But regardless of the motivation, it was a huge nuisance for her, not the least of which because there was nothing more than friendship going on between her and Michael.

Bella stared straight ahead. She was determined to do well at the Cullen household. And if putting up with Edward Cullen's strange moods was a part of that success, than she would have to bear it.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Here's the update. As always, please review! Every one I get makes me do a little happy dance, and I love hearing what you all think of each chapter!**_

As the night wore on and the punch was consumed, the night grew more amusing and less boring for Bella. It was fascinating to watch the guests, dressed up in their finery, and all the social machinations and scheming that went on. She had served at dances held by the Wellingtons, but they were nothing like this. It was truly amazing to see the lavishness of the dress and decor, and to hear the beautiful sounds of the musicians that the Cullens had hired.

It was striking to Bella to see exactly how Edward was treated. Beautiful young women, corseted and with their ample bosoms highlighted by expensive jewels, vied for Edward's attention. Bella was of course wearing a corset as well, as all the female servants did. But her bosom would not be described as ample. It wasn't tiny, but a proportionate size to her small frame. Long days of work did not lead to the curvaceous, feminine figures of these ladies. And it was undeniable to Bella how beautiful they looked, their skin bathed in the soft candlelight lighting up the room.

But despite the expensive cost of the women's jewelry, Edward was clearly the most sought after item in the room. A gaggle of young ladies giggled and laughed around them. Edward spoke to them politely and the women seemed enchanted by him. It seemed to Bella as though he weren't making any particular effort, which, Bella thought to herself, probably made the women want him more.

Bella alternated between watching Edward's scene and the various other social mating rituals which were taking place in the ballroom. There was so much to observe, from the gossiping older women to the drunken gentlemen to the dancing. Although Edward's scene was certainly the liveliest and most attractive of all the groups, Bella tried not to watch too much. She noticed Edward would occasionally glance in her direction. Bella did her best to avoid eye contact and fight the general boredom of the night. As interesting as the social dynamics were, it was hard to feel particularly invested when she had no stake in anything that happened.

Then one particular blonde woman approached Edward. To Bella, she was absolutely stunning. Her golden hair was piled atop her head in an elaborate bun, with small jewels studding her hair. A sizable sapphire necklace rested just above her sizeable chest, which led down into a tiny waist. The woman's gorgeous hair was further highlighted by her rich blue dress, made of beautiful silk and cut low to reveal her generous décolletage. When she approached Edward she said something to him, and Bella watched as Edward's face broke into a laugh.

Bella felt a strange pang of bitterness strike her as she watched the scene. There was something so beautiful about Edward's face when he laughed. The fact that he was such a brooding curmudgeon could really do nothing to dim the beauty that Edward had been blessed with. From his surprisingly pouty lips, to his razor sharp cheekbones, to the feline curve of his eyes, his face truly looked as though it had been carved by a master sculptor.

Bella narrowed her eyes and glared at the woman. The low cut of her dress was something only a trollop would wear, and Bella found herself intensely disliking the woman for some reason. At that moment Edward's eyes met hers. Suddenly the laughing expression left his face and it was replaced with a look of surprise mixed with interest. The corners of his lips then quickly turned up into a small smirk.

Bella shot her eyes ahead of her. She had no idea what she had just been thinking or why on earth she had glared at Edward. Technically she had been glaring at his partner but she was sure it would be all the same to him. And why shouldn't he be angry? The woman was a guest and Bella had no right on earth to be in any way angry or resentful of her.

Bella shook her head. She had no idea why those bizarre emotions had washed over her. She wouldn't if perhaps her time of the month had come early, although she doubted so since she had had her monthly visit only last week.

She did her best to focus on the ball and completely avoid looking over at Edward, and she was extremely relieved when Carlisle announced that it was the beginning of the dinner service.

The food had been set up in the dining room, with some tables and chairs having been arranged for guests to eat at. There were additionally places to eat in the library, on the various chairs and couches that were arranged around the room. Bella was to stand in either room, against the wall, to assist guests and take away unwanted food and drink.

Bella debated in her mind where she should stand. Jessica had not assigned stations for this part of the night, so Bella had her choice. She quickly reasoned that the dining room had a greater capacity for holding guests, with the various round tables and chairs. So she decided to stand in the corner of the library, hoping against all hope to avoid seeing Edward.

Bella stood nervously, her hands clasped behind her. Although this was an acceptable way to stand, Bella was sure she was not supposed to be wringing her hands behind her back. But the events of the night had made her so nervous. To have inspired Edward's ire twice in the night did not bode well, and Bella could only hope to avoid his further attentions. Although he had smiled the second time, she was sure that her glare towards his partner had been unmistakable.

After a couple of minutes, she felt herself relax. She hoped by that this point everyone had been seated. Many of the seats in the library had been taken by various parties, either couples or groups of men and women.

Just as she unclasped her hands, Bella saw Edward's tall figure stand at the entrance to the library, standing next to the blonde from earlier. He seemed to be scanning the room, as though he was searching for something. Bella felt herself shrink into the corner, hoping to go unnoticed. But it was no use and Bella looked away as Edward's eyes met her. Quickly he walked in her direction, the blonde woman following behind him.

Bella turned straight ahead and tried to ignore him, willing that he would choose somewhere else to sit than near to her. She was grateful that an older couple had decided to sit on the chaise directly in front of her. But unfortunately, there was a sofa located just a few feet away from her, on her right side, that was unoccupied.

Of course, despite the passionate wishing going on in Bella's head, Edward chose that sofa to sit on, leaving him and his guest just a few feet away from Bella. Bella did her best to ignore them. That was exactly what she would do- look away and not allow herself to be distressed by Edward's presence.

Bella was going to chalk this entire night down to some hellacious bad luck. The evening would have some more dancing and then it would end, and then Bella could go to bed and the week could continue as usual. Hopefully her mistakes this evening would not result in any serious repercussions from Edward. Bella stared deliberately at the opposite wall, wishing she could will herself from this room.

"Miss Swan!"

Bella's reverie was interrupted by the sound of her name being called loudly.

"Miss Swan!"

Bella realized it was Edward calling her name, and she turned to see him staring at her. The blonde girl was also staring, a smirk on her face.

She quickly walked over to their sofa. "Miss Swan, I'm in need of more punch. "

Bella nodded and took the glass from him, careful not to touch his fingers.

"I hope my thirst didn't interrupt your apparent reverie."

Bella bristled at Edward's words and the giggle of the blond, but she couldn't help but notice that his voice didn't sound angry. It sounded almost amused underneath the firmness of his tone. Bella was sure she could chalk that up to his seeming pleasure at being with this blonde trollop, who clearly took absolute glee in hearing Bella ordered around.

"Oh Edward," the blonde swatted at his chest playfully. "You needn't have downed it in one gulp!"

Bella curtsied and forced her face into a placid expression, although it took everything she had not to roll her eyes at the insipid giggling of this woman. She walked to the dining room and refilled the cup, and walked back to the library, dreading each step.

Bella curtsied as she presented the cup to Edward. She couldn't help but notice that in the short minute or so that she had been gone, the blonde had managed to inch herself even closer to Edward, to the point that she was almost pressed up against him, her breasts struggling to stay inside her blue dress.

"Miss Swan, since you seemed so unable to notice my need for you earlier, I suggest you stand closer to us."

Bella nodded, holding back a grimace, and began to walk back towards the halfway point between her corner and the wall behind Edward's sofa.

"Behind us, Miss Swan."

Bella turned and saw Edward glaring at her. She quickly moved behind them. Bella clasped her hands behind her tightly. Of course. Now she would have no way to avoid looking at the sickening couple.

It was truly gross to Bella to see the blonde girl throwing herself at Edward, looking up at him with fluttering eyelashes, and Edward absolutely loving the attention. At one point the blonde even took a piece of cake and fed it to him, allowing her fingers to touch his lips. Bella felt absolutely scandalized.

She felt as though she was being forced to watch something scandalous. To be touching someone's lips in public was utterly uncouth- even as a servant Bella would never do that. Although she did find herself wondering how Edward's lips would feel, under her fingers or maybe lips, probably very soft and pliant, from the look of them…

Bella mentally slapped herself. She didn't know why she was even thinking along those lines. It was utterly shocking. This was why this kind of public behavior was discouraged- it inevitably led to libidinous thoughts for anyone in the vicinity. And Bella couldn't help but think that if it were _her_ feeding Edward cake, she would have done it much better.

_Again, with the thoughts!_ Bella mentally berated herself. Why was she even thinking of Edward in such a context? It was so strange. Especially after how annoying Edward had been tonight, she knew she should be feeling nothing but animosity towards him.

And she did, to some extent. But on the other hand, she couldn't help but feel as though she wanted to rip him away from the scandalous looking blonde woman who clearly had no morals at all. Something about the way she looked at Edward and the way he was smiling at what she was saying made Bella feel like ripping the necklace from her throat and throwing her into the punchbowl.

But Bella supposed this was natural. She was merely being protective of the family that she served. She had never experienced such pangs before with the Wellingtons, but she supposed there was first for everything. Although certainly it would seem as though nothing in Edward's severe behavior would warrant such a kind display of protective instinct from her, Bella supposed this was what it must have been.

Bella did her best to ignore the conversation, but she couldn't help but pick up on certain snippets.

"Edward, you are so strong. When Lord Fenwick passed out at the hunt last month, I doubt if anyone but you would have had the strength to carry him back to the house!"

"Edward, you simply must visit me at the house in Bath. It is truly beautiful at this time of year and my family would be only too happy to have you there!"

"Edward, you know my father has a standing invitation at Windsor Castle. He is so close to the Royal Highness, he has a standing invitation to go shooting with him. You must join us!"

Bella felt the bile rise in her throat. In all her years of service, she could not recall hearing such a determined name dropper. Just the sound of Edward's name coming out of her mouth made Bella feel nauseated. And as much as she wanted to zone out, she knew she could not. Edward had made it embarrassingly and publicly clear that he had noticed her doing so earlier. Additionally, he kept turning around to check to make sure that her attention was not wandering.

Bella stared at the floor but each time he turned around to look she made sure to look up to meet his eyes, to let him know she was not allowing her mind to wander.

Bella watched as most of the guests began to filter out from the room, and their attending servants also left. Soon Edward and the blonde woman were the only ones left in the room. Bella wanted badly to leave, but she knew she had no choice but to stay until Edward left.

Suddenly the blonde woman leaned and pressed her breasts against Edward. "You know Edward, you can call on me any time you like. My parents are in Bath presently so the estate is all mine for the week."

Edward smirked and reached forward to brush a tendril of curled blonde hair behind her ear. "Is that so? Well then I must make time to pay you a visit."

Bella found herself riveted, staring at the scene in front of her, desperate for someone to say something or enter the room and break this strange spell between them. She wished she could will a chandelier to fall or something, just to drive these lovers apart. She'd had no idea this was how Edward acted with women, and to be honest it stirred many things in her, one of which was anger. It felt strangely like possessiveness, although Bella knew it wasn't possible that she could feel that way about Edward, someone she had absolutely no claim to.

The blond grinned broadly, as if she had just been told she had been bequeathed the crown jewels. And then suddenly Edward's gaze shot to Bella's and caught her watching them. His eyes locked with hers and in the couple of seconds that they connected Bella was sure she saw an abundance of emotion pass between. She was sure Edward had seen the anger in her eyes, and similarly Bella felt as though she saw satisfaction in his. He seemed to allow his eyes to stay on hers, and it took Bella a couple of seconds to realize the strangeness of this and to avert her eyes to the floor.

"Yes, let's plan on it." Edward rose to his feet, and the blonde followed, rising quickly next to him. "Miss Swan."

Bella heard her name being called and briskly walked to him. "Your grace?"

Edward's eyes locked with hers again and he paused before saying. "Please take my and Lady Warren's plates."

"Yes, your grace." Bella curtsied and took Edward's. As she reached to take the blonde woman's, their eyes met and Bella noticed the woman was giving her an angry glare. As soon as the dish was in Bella's hand, the blonde girl grabbed Edward by arm and draped herself against him, staring at Bella before looking up at Edward.

Bella quickly turned and walked from the room, depositing the plates in the kitchen for the scullery maid to take care of. She shook off the strangeness of her interaction with the girl. Bella felt exhausted after the whole night. She paused for a second in the kitchen to converse with Angela, who was overjoyed to be done with her part in the night. Bella wished she could pull up a chair with Angela and gossip about the night, so she could fill her in on all the pathetic behavior of the women at the ball towards Edward. But there was nothing for it. Bella was expected to line up in the ballroom against the wall as the merriment and dancing resumed.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thanks for all of your responses everyone! I love hearing your opinions about the chapter and your ideas for what should happen next- they're what keep me writing when I hit writer's block! So please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!**_

Bella was relieved when the rest of the evening passed without incident. She was able to stay at her station against the wall and steadfastly managed to stare straight ahead. She noticed that Edward was somewhere dancing with the blonde girl, and a few other girls. But Bella was honestly so tired that it was all she could do to keep her eyes open.

Around two in the morning the last guest had stumbled out the doors of the Cullen manor and to their waiting carriage. Bella was exhausted, but she still had to help with the cleaning. By three in the morning, Bella had stumbled up to bed and collapsed in exhaustion. She was asleep in seconds.

The next morning came far too soon and Bella felt as though she'd been hit with a brick. The servants had been allowed to sleep in an extra hour, as the Cullens would all be sleeping in for far longer. But it was still much too early in Bella's opinion. She felt as though she could have slept for an entire week.

The entire manor had to be scrubbed from floor to ceiling, which kept Bella and the rest of the servants busy for the entire morning. The Cullens finally left their beds and met for breakfast at around eleven o'clock, but Bella was glad to not be assigned to serve them. She wanted to stay far away from Edward and his piercing gaze. Even scrubbing floors and dusting drapes was preferably to him, in her estimation.

When the servants finally took their lunch, Bella was glad to have a chance to speak to Michael. She was nervous about approaching him, due to Edward's obvious problem with their interactions, but she reasoned that the Cullen family members rarely if ever ventured downstairs to the servants' quarters.

Michael seemed nervous when she tried to approach him initially, but then relaxed. He explained to her that last night Edward had threatened him with firing and ordered him to find a replacement and not to speak to Bella. However, he had not fired him and had not fired him that morning.

Bella was relieved to hear that. The way Michael spoke of Edward showed his nervousness regarding him, and he told Bella that he would be much more careful in public. Bella could tell that Edward's attitude had now affected Michael as well, who at first had seemed quite cavalier about his orders to stay away from Bella.

Something in Bella felt annoyed with Edward that he had succeeded in intimidating Michael. Edward was so domineering and aggressive- she had enjoyed the fact that Michael seemed to have little regard for his orders. But now that had changed too and Michael and she were sure to have a different dynamic in their relationship. And it was utterly Edward's fault.

Bella had told Angela about Jacob, and she had arranged it with her so that she would be the one sent to deliver supper to the stable workers. That would give Bella around twenty minutes to spend with Jacob, and Angela had agreed to cover for Bella if Jessica came looking for her.

Bella wasn't sure exactly what Jacob had planned, but she was pretty sure Angela had spoken to Jacob, so maybe they had collaborated. Angela seemed thrilled by the idea of Jacob courting Bella, and Bella had to admit that he was an extremely eligible bachelor for a woman of her station. He was tall and strong, with rugged good lucks. He wore his dark hair tied in a ponytail, and his skin was continually tanned from the sun. He stood a good foot taller than her, and all the manual labor he did for a living had let to him having muscles strong enough to stand out through his clothing.

Beyond that, Jacob was known among the servants for having a friendly, optimistic disposition. And right now, that was exactly what Bella was looking for. She was sick to death of the brooding looks that Edward always shot her way. Usually she found it annoying, but something about the ball had put Bella in a foul mood ever since. She had gone out of her way to avoid Edward today, finding ways to get put on kitchen duty, rather than having to scrub the floors upstairs. She also had managed to avoid serving the lunch service, and hopefully the dinner service.

"Here you go!" Angela cheerfully plopped the basket on the counter next to Bella. It was laden with loaves of bread, a pitcher of soup, and some meats. The stable workers always ate their meals separately from the household servants. They had their own living quarters behind the stables, in which was an extremely rustic "dining room". But often the stable workers just ate where they stood, before resuming their work.

Bella noticed that to the side of the meal was a small bundle wrapped in linen.

"Angela, did you pack that for Jacob and me?"

Angela's face turned into a mischievous grin. "I'm not about to tell you anything. You'll have to ask Jacob."

Bella rolled her eyes but smiled. It was nice to have this to look forward to. And it was still somewhat shocking to her that such a handsome young man as Jacob would take an interest in her.

"Alright fine." Bella picked up the basket. "Well it won't be a secret much longer. Just please make sure to cover for me if-"

"If Jessica comes looking for you in I will tell her that I asked you to retrieve some extra vegetables for the salads tonight." Angela said. "Now go have fun."

Bella smiled and walked out the kitchen door to the stables. She placed the basket on a table at the edge of the stable- no single women were supposed to enter into the private living quarters. The men were working on various things through the stable, but they all turned and looked up when Bella walked in. Many of them grinned when they saw her.

"Jacob!" One of them called. "Suppertime!"

All the men chuckled, and Bella blushed. She knew it was harmless teasing, but Bella still didn't like being the center of attention.

"Bella!" Jacob jogged from outside of the stables, a smile on his face. He looked freshly shaven, his hair tied back into a neat ponytail at the base of his neck. His shirt, which usually had dirt and evidence of the day's labors on it, was perfectly white and contrasted beautifully with his deeply tanned skin.

"Hi Jacob." Bella felt suddenly shy and on display, she wasn't sure exactly what to say.

Jacob walked over to the basket assertively, while the others watched him with small smiles. "I think this is for us." He gingerly removed the wrapped bundle, then turned to Bella with a smile. "Let's go."

Bella followed behind him, trying to block out the feeling that all his fellow stable workers would be talking about them. Once they had reached the outside of the stables, Jacob slowed down and they were walking side by side.

"I thought it might be nice for me to show you some of the countryside." Jacob told her. "And then I asked Angela to pack some thing for us to eat."

Bella nodded. "That sounds lovely."

"I thought it would be nice for you to get out the house, you've been so cooped up in there since you started working here."

Bella thought briefly to her one foray out of the Cullen house, and she cringed at how nerve-wracking it had been. Truthfully, she was used to being cooped up in the manor. Such was the life of a house servant- your life was limited to the confines of your masters and their surroundings. And she much preferred those duties to having to be on her best behavior around Edward.

Jacob seemed to take in her change of expression. "Well, except that one day with Master Edward." His demeanor suddenly changed to nervous. "Might I ask- he wasn't too… too harsh was he?"

Bella found that she had been daydreaming, thinking of her ride with Edward, of their brief conversation in the woods and his face as they had spoken. She quickly forced herself to focus on the conversation at hand.

"No, no he wasn't too harsh." Bella reassured him. "But that's Edward, isn't it? Always brooding over something."

Jacob laughed. He looked almost relieved. "Sounds like you've about had your fill of him!"

"Just about," Bella wondered how the conversation had come around to the one subject she wanted so desperately to avoid. "So, where are we going today?"

Jacob smiled nervously at her. "There's a secluded pond about a five minute walk away, just inside the tree lining. I thought it would be close enough for us to return quickly but far enough to feel like a vacation from the estate."

Bella beamed. It was clear that Jacob was bit nervous and she felt flattered. "That sounds lovely."

Bella and Jacob walked side by side to the pond, the minutes passing by quickly with the small talk and banter. Talking with Jacob was so easy, it felt like talking to an old friend. Bella was still a bit nervous to be around a man alone, but she knew she would have to get used to it if she wanted to find a husband. This was the courting process, and Jacob made the whole thing seem much less intimidating and formal.

Jacob told Bella about his family and what he did on the estate. Apparently his father had worked in the same position for the Cullens, and had raised Jacob around the stables and taught him the tricks of the trade. He told her about his daily tasks as a stable worker, and about his passion, the intricate art of saddle making. His dream was to one day be able to make a living working for a fine saddle shop.

Before Bella knew it they had travelled past the edge of the woods, and had reached the pond. Jacob placed the blanket down and began removing the food from the basket. Although Bella tried to help spread out the food, Jacob wouldn't let her, and asked her to sit down on the blanket. He quickly prepared them both open faced sandwiches on pieces of bread, with layers of cheese and meat. Bella saw that Angela had included nicer cheese that usually wouldn't be fed to servants- she was obviously trying to make this as special of a time as possible for Jacob and her.

"So Bella," Jacob said as he sat down next to her. "Now it's your turn. Tell me about yourself, where you came from before you landed at the Cullen estate."

Bella told him about her previous work at the Wellingtons, and how she had been selected to come work for the Cullens. Jacob asked her what her daily duties entailed, and she told him about her usual day. They woke at about the same time, with Jacob having to wake up early to prepare the horses.

The pond was serene- ducks and Lilly pads floated on the surface. Birds chirped in the woods around them, and Bella found herself feeling incredibly comfortable.

"Bella", Jacob's face looked suddenly serious. "I wanted to ask you if you would allow me to court you."

Bella could feel the nervousness radiating from Jacob in waves. She took a second to think things through. She had never been courted before, and the concept of spending time with someone for the express purpose of determining whether you wanted to marry them was a daunting one. But Bella knew that she wasn't getting any younger. At the age of 17, many of her peers were already married. She wanted to find a husband, but at the same time she wasn't sure if Jacob was the right person. Bella felt like hesitating for a moment, and then she had a flash of how Edward had behaved at the ball. His rudeness towards her and the attention he had paid towards the blonde in the low cut dress. And suddenly Bella felt as though she would go anywhere, do anything, not to remember that and to be able to think and feel something else.

"Yes." She blurted out. A second too late she remembered to smile reassuringly at Jacob, but it didn't seem as if he had noticed. He beamed back at her, seeming incredibly pleased.

"That's- that's wonderful." Jacob grinned. "I'm really so glad to have met you, Bella."

Bella did her best to smile, even though the remembrance of that night had ruined the jovial and relaxed mood from earlier. "And I you, Jacob."

"Well, I guess we should be getting back before Jessica notices you've been gone." Jacob rose to his feet and reached down to help Bella up, outstretching both hands to her and pulling her up gently.

Jacob quickly packed the remaining items and the blanket, resisting any attempts Bella made to help. Together they walked back, watching the sun beginning to set in the distance over the rolling hills of the estate.

Once they had made it back to the stables and parted, Bella carried the basket back to the kitchen. She smiled to herself. She was officially being courted. She didn't know why, though, she wasn't as happy about it as she had expected.

Jacob was the perfect gentleman, so kind and thoughtful to her. He was easy to be around, considerate, and very attractive. He would make an excellent husband and surely do his best to provide for her and any offspring were they to get married. But something about it felt bittersweet to Bella. She chalked it up to the giving up of her freedom- surely something that would give anyone pause. But Bella knew that Angela would be thrilled to hear the news, as Jacob was considered quite the sought after bachelor among the servant girls. And she was sure that over time, she would come to share that enthusiasm.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Thanks for the LONNNNGGGGG wait everyone! I know it's been a while- I actually moved across the country and have had no time at all to write. With the surgery, the holidays, and the move this has truly been one of the busiest times of my entire life. And though I knew it was coming, I still figured I would have had more time to write than I have had! Anyway, here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Please keep the reviews coming y'all- love hearing what you think of each update!**_

Bella bounded up the stairs. She was intent on finding Jessica before the dinner service, and finding some way of getting out of serving. Bella was sure that she didn't want to be around Edward, not after the other night. Something about the way he had interacted with that blonde girl had put Bella in a foul mood, and she was willing to do just about anything in order to avoid seeing him for at least another day.

And that just about anything included risking Jessica's wrath by lying to her in order to get out of the service.

Bella had gone through all the excuses in her mind, rejecting each one by one. Finally she had settled on telling Jessica that it was the first day of her cycle and she had particularly painful cramps.

This was Bella's favorite because it was the one that would most elicit sympathy in a fellow female. Bella wasn't sure whether Jessica would even be capable of that emotion, but it seemed like her best shot. Additionally, Jessica would have no way of verifying it, save checking under Bella's gown which she knew even Jessica wouldn't dare to do. If Bella claimed to be sick with a cold or fever, there were easy way to check the veracity of such claims.

Also, Bella had gotten her cycle a few days earlier. Her cramping had been minimal and she had carried on with work as usual. So if next month she experienced particularly painful cramps, it would sync up with the general time period.

However, Bella knew she would have to lay it on thick. Servants were generally always expected to work through any ailments, cramps included. But Bella had never asked for any time off before, and she was planning on truly giving it her all and putting on a full act of being in mind-altering pain.

Bella looked in the first room, Alice's sitting room. She knew that Jessica was up in one of the bedrooms turning down the sheets. She crossed through Alice's sitting room to peek in the bedroom. Finding it unoccupied, Bella quickly walked to Alice's washing table and dipped her hand in the porcelain water jug.

Bella quickly sprinkled some water droplets on her forehead, and then smoothed down her hair with more water, until it looked as though she had been sweating profusely. She pinched both cheeks until they were red and feverish looking, and checked her reflection in Alice's mirror to make sure she looked like a woman in pain and disarray.

Bella checked a couple other rooms before finding Jessica in Carlisle's room, laying the sheets out upon his bed. She knocked quietly on the door, then clutched her side with both hands.

Jessica whipped her head around, "What do you want and why aren't you helping prepare for the dinner service?"

"Jessica, I'm so sorry to both you," Bella made sure to make her voice sound strained and weak- the voice of a woman who had been under intense stress for the last few hours. "But I got my monthly visit today and… it's bad."

Jessica rolled her eyes and turned back to the bed. "Well, there's nothing for it. You are expected to serve at the dinner service tonight and that's it."

"Jessica, I'm in so much pain."

"We've all been there. You'll just have to do your best."

Bella briefly considered whether she should push her luck. But quickly a flash came to her of the other night, Edward staring into the blonde girl's eyes, and she decided it was worth it. "Jessica, I'm sweating everywhere. My hands are shaking. Why not just let Ashley serve in my place tonight? I already asked her and she agreed."

Jessica finally put down what she was doing and turned to face Bella. "Because Lord Cullen specifically requested you serve tonight."

Bella felt shocked. "Carlisle wants me there?"

"Edward Cullen."

Jessica watched Bella closely, registering the surprise on her face. Bella felt her hands almost drop from her side, so great was her shock. But she quickly remembered her mission and reassumed her expression of abject pain.

Now, more than before, she knew she absolutely _had _to get out of the dinner service.

"I'm bleeding so much this time. What will we do if I bleed on the Oriental rug?"

Jessica's face registered this information. She looked pensive for a second, then she looked back at Bella with a looked of frustrated defeat.

"Very well. Tell Ashley to prepare to be in the service. But I expect you to wake up early to do the laundry tomorrow, as well as dusting the entire first floor."

Bella nodded, and gave Jessica her most pitiful smile. "Of course, Jessica. And thank you."

Jessica didn't say anything, but simply turned back to Carlisle's bed and continued her arrangement of the sheets.

Bella turned and slumped down the hall, being sure to rag herself along as if she was in pain. She reached the entrance to the servant's stairs, and pulled herself up wearily, just in case she was to run into anyone else.

Bella reached her room and threw herself onto her bed.

In the emptiness of her room, she felt finally able to process the information Jessica had given her. Why on earth had Edward requested her to serve dinner?

Bella stared up at the ceiling, her eyes tracing the grains and lines of the stones. She wondered if Edward were trying to punish her, to make her uncomfortable in some way. But then again, what reason would he have to do such a thing?

Then an even stranger though entered her head. Maybe Edward liked being around her- maybe he found her to be… attractive?

Bella laughed. The thought was so preposterous that she did not even know how she had conjured it. There was no way that someone like Edward could ever take interest in a servant like Bella.


	12. Chapter 12

**_As always, your reviews and feedback mean a lot to me! Please let me know what you think! Thanks!_**

Bella slept soundly that night, relishing the extra hours of sleep. She awoke in the early hours of the morning to begin the laundry process. Truth be told, Jessica would probably have assigned her to do this menial task anyway, as it was a process that the servants dreaded which was usually relegated to Jessica's least favorite person.

And since Bella had moved in here, she was clearly Jessica's least favorite person.

As Bella scrubbed at a stain on a sheet, she though of the odd way Jessica had stared at her last night when she told her that Edward had requested her at dinner. She had looked almost accusing, like she was finally revealing some great secret.

Bella wondered if Edward had requested her any other times. And if so, why he would have.

But there was no sense wondering about it anymore.

Bella had spent a good 45 minutes last night pondering Jessica's strange revelation last night, and she really didn't know what to think of it. After going over all the possibilities, her best guess was that Edward had enjoyed seeing her discomfort the other night while he flirted with the blonde woman, and wished to continue her discomfort at dinner.

Why the flirting had made Bella uncomfortable in the first place, was another question Bella simply did not have an answer to. She had certainly seen outrageous flirting in the past.

Maybe it was because she knew the woman was only after Edward for surface reasons: his money, his status, his good lucks, his popular personality. And it bothered Bella to see someone she was supposed to look after being taken advantage of.

But Bella knew it couldn't only be that- after all, it seemed Edward was going to take advantage of the blonde woman to an equal extent.

Maybe it was the way Edward had kept looking over at her. It seemed to Bella that when he did so, it was almost as though he were involving her in their scandalous interaction. As if, with Edward's constant glances in her direction, he had made their high-society coupling into a trio, wherein Bella was also involved.

And truth be told, Bella had no interest in being involved in any trio with the blonde woman. From the ridiculous amount of cleavage she had displayed, to obvious and nauseating flirting, to the glare she had thrown Bella at the end of the night, the woman was utter trash in Bella's estimation.

Bella felt a pang thinking of the whole thing. At least she hadn't had to see Edward last night. And Bella was going to do her utmost to avoid him again today. Thankfully the laundry would take all morning, so she would be in the washroom until lunchtime. And Bella was going to do her utmost to avoid serving at the dinner service that night. She knew couldn't get out of it again, but she hoped Edward would have found other things to amuse himself than Bella's discomfort now that she had been out of his sight for the past day.

Bella ran her cloth carefully over the top of the mahogany table. She had removed all the porcelain figurines and put them to the side, to give her access to the table top.

She had already dusted the dining room, the foyer, and now was working on the library. She hated this room because it brought back a flood of memories from the other night, of the blonde girl giggling at Edward. That corner she was saving for last, if only to save herself the humiliation of having to stand in that exact spot.

So far Bella had managed to avoid Edward, and she felt a huge sense of relief. So far Jessica had not asked her to serve at the dinner service, although there was still plenty of time for her to do so. And she had begun her dusting promptly after lunch, which meant that chances were very good that Edward would be out riding his horse. It was a rare afternoon that Edward did not spend outside, and the quiet of the house was a good omen that Edward was sticking to his usual schedule.

Just as Bella thought this, she heard the telltale stomp of riding boots enter through the front door. Immediately, she froze.

_It has to be Edward, _Bella thought frantically. She floated out the option in her head that it could be someone else, but truly no one else walked with the kind of assured command that Edward did.

Bella felt herself panicking for a second. She could hear Edward stopping at each room along the way, and she knew there were only two more before he reached the library.

Without thinking Bella crossed to the bookshelf near the window. The library had floor to ceiling built in bookshelves stacked up 14 feet, with equally tall windows every few feet.

Bella tucked herself into the small space between the window and the bookshelf. She didn't move in all the way, for fear of how ridiculous and obvious it would be that she had been hiding were she to be caught. But she tucked herself in just enough so that only some of her skirt would be visible. From the door, her torso and head would be blocked from vision by the voluminous folds of the curtain.

Bella poised her cloth against the edge of the windowsill, prepared to claim that she was merely dusting this area were she to be caught. She heard Edward's footsteps enter the room before this, before striding toward the library.

Bella heard him pause at the library, and she felt almost as though she couldn't breathe, so high was her dread at having to face him. She heard Edward take a step as if to leave, and then stop.

"Dusting are we?"

Bella exhaled the breath she had been holding. It seemed she was caught.

"Yes, just getting the corners here." She pulled herself out of the corner and turned to face him.

"Hmm, from your odd position some might think you were hiding." Edward looked at Bella with amusement.

"Well it seems that people often overlook this section of the library, there was a layer of dust." Bella refused to admit she had been hiding, and instead fixed Edward with a look of haughty indifference.

"Easy to do, it's so far back from the rest of the room."

Bella didn't respond, merely curtsied at him and stared at the floor, willing Edward to leave so she could get back to her work.

"And what's equally strange is that the figurines on the other side of the room havent been placed back in their usual spot… Almost as though someone were dusting that table and simply abandoned it."

Edward waited expectantly but Bella didn't say anything, determined to speak as little as she needed to.

"Tell me, Miss Swan, are you redecorating?"

Bella raised her eyes to meet his. "No, your grace. I merely saw this spot in the room and realized that it would probably go unnoticed by most servants. I wanted to immediately dust it and beg forgiveness for not finishing the table first."

Edward took steps towards her. "It's quite alright Miss Swan. But to someone who isn't as acquainted with you as I am, they might think that you were hiding from me."

Bella remained silently and stared at the ground.

"Miss Swan, please look at me when I address you."

Bella reluctantly raised her eyes to his, struggling to keep her expression placid. She had a feeling that her anger over the night still shone through her eyes.

"And they might also think that that's why you were not at the dinner service last night."

Edward's gaze on her was piercing, as if he was trying to carefully watch her emotions. Bella was determined to keep her expression clear and empty.

"Your grace, I was sick."

"Do you want to know what I think happened?" Edward began to walk towards her. His walk was slow and deliberate, almost seductive. Bella didn't say a word. She also didn't tear her gaze from his- she knew if she did Edward would only order her to restore it.

"I think you were bothered by my interactions with Lady Warren the other night."

At the mention of the woman's name, Bella felt a rush of anger. She couldn't help but turn her eyes to the side, before quickly remembering and bringing them back to meet Edward's. She struggled to keep her eyes calm, but she knew that Edward had seen the anger in them. His mouth twitched and his eyes looked suddenly impassioned, as though he had discovered something which pleased him very much.

"You can carry on with your attempts to be sick or avoid me," Edward continued his steady walk towards Bella. "But this is my estate Bella, and it wont be very useful."

As Edward came nearer, Bella fought the urge to back up. She knew that to do so would be very disrespectful, but on a more visceral level Bella felt as though that would allow Edward to win in this strange interaction between them. She felt determined to stand her ground, even though she didn't know what exactly Edward would be "winning" if she did indeed step back from him.

Edward fixed her with a questioning gaze.

"Your grace, I genuinely was sick- I was in a lot of pain and-"

"You can spare your attempts to convince me, Bella." Edward had now stopped his walk towards Bella. He was only a couple feet away from her now, forcing Bella to raise her eyes to his. Edward towered over Bella, with his six feet and three inches of height. Bella briefly thought of how annoying this was, as it seemed to reinforce the differences in their status.

"I'm much more interested in how my interaction with Lady Warren made you feel the other night."

Bella struggled to keep her voice neutral. "It didn't make me feel anything."

"Come on." Edward said. "Be honest Bella."

"Truly, your grace. It made me feel nothing."

"And tell me- what did you think of Lady Warren?"

Bella considered lying again, saying that she didn't think anything of her. But Bella found the opportunity to say something, anything, rude about Lady Warren too tempting to pass up.

"I found her to be rather distasteful."

Edward grinned. "And what, may I ask, was so distasteful about Lady Warren?"

Bella fixed Edward with a steely focus. "If your grace will forgive me for saying something against his guest, I found her behavior to be incoming of a young lady."

Edward returned her gaze with the same intensity. The smile that had been on his face was now gone. He looked on the verge of saying something important.

Bella found herself suddenly not wanting Edward to say whatever it was he was going to say. She didn't care whether or not she lost the war, but she knew she had to step back from this interaction. Or else, she feared that Edward was going to say something which would forever alter the dynamic between them. She wasn't sure exactly what, but it was something nonetheless.

Bella took the step and dropped her eyes to the floor, and it was as if the spell had been broken. She quickly glanced back up but Edward's expression looked as though it had been wiped clear of emotion, as though he were wearing the same mask that Bella had been struggling to keep on for the entirety of their interaction.

"Well, Miss Swan. I must disagree. The world would be a much easier place if more women acted as Miss Warren had that night."

Bella's mouth dropped open at the brazenness of his statement, and Bella noticed Edward's face quirk into a small smile before he turned and walked out of the room.


End file.
